


Gamble Your Life

by NixxonMysterio



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Emotionally Struggled OC, Extreme Optamism, F/M, Gen, Humour, I swear it'll be good!, Just check it out, Mystery, Not good at tagging so this is it?, OC who ignores negativity, POV Original Character, Strong Language, Supernatural - Freeform, That's it I guess., near deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 03:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15476655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NixxonMysterio/pseuds/NixxonMysterio
Summary: Nero is a teenager, fresh out of college and is lucky enough to happen across a seemingly easy job at a nearby pizzeria. Yet there is more than meets the eye within this pizzeria and when he falls victim to its snare, he has to decide whether he'll stay, what he'll do and what he's willing to put himself through for the sake of those he doesn't even know, even if they're dead.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Gamble Your Life, the reboot. New Title, summary, style and layout, everything!  
> If you have any issues with anything in the story, criticisms, opinions, questions then comment and I'll respond best I can and address your concern and improve and update should the need arise.  
> Also, I'm on FF.net, same name, if you've come from there stick with this one for slightly earlier updates and my original intended format.

**AN: Welcome to Gamble Your Life, the reboot. New Title, summary, style and layout, everything! Decided, rather than upload everything at once, I’ll upload in arcs just so you have something to tide you over and so I can see the general response to this version of the story, if you like it, I’ll continue it if not then I’ll go back and stick to just rewording/writing the original story.**  
If you have any issues with anything in the story, criticisms, opinions, questions, review or PM me and I’ll respond best I can and address your concern and improve and update should the need arise.  
Anyway, I hope this version will be better than the last and you readers will enjoy it, I’ve changed a lot of things up.  
  


**Nero POV**

Waking up to the ceiling of my new home was a sight I had yet to tire of, if the sleepy grin was anything to go by. Months of patience and struggling had finally led up to me being able to get a new home away from my parents, ‘friends’ or anyone else I may know. A completely fresh start where I could make a name for myself and rise up in the community so when people saw me they’d go “Hey, I know that guy!”

Or something like that.

Shaking my head, I slid out of bed, my feet making contact with the soft carpet covering the floor of my room. A glance at my alarm clock revealed it had just gone five past eleven, meaning I had slept in later than I had intended which caused me to groan in slight frustration. I had missed the debut of that new anime I wanted to watch. I could watch it later, but I seriously wanted to watch it as it came out.

Speaking of anime, a look around my room would reveal to anyone just how big a fan of anime I was. Posters were splashed around my room of various characters from shows I had watched over the years – So what if I’ve spent a good chunk of my life watching anime? It was worth it!

Anyway, the most distinctive one was of a pink haired girl with small red horns atop her head which was placed just above my bed. A silent good morning was exchanged between the poster and I, before I decided I’d had enough messing around and made my way to the bathroom for a shower, quickly removing the clothes I had on and entering the small cubicle.

Hissing, I flinched away from the shower head which had decided to rain down cold water on my defenceless body as I pulled and twisted the handle to the left. I could only glare at it as the water took its sweet time to heat up to a level I could call satisfactory before washing myself down.

Three weeks. I had been living in this house after having been eager to leave my old town to come to this one and I had been surviving (If you could even call it that) on the wad of money that my parents had given me. Trying to find a job was harder than the teachers in high school made it seem, near nigh impossible in fact, considering the large number of places I had applied for. But I guess it’s understandable. After all, what business would want to hire a teenager basically fresh out of college and with no work experience in any field apart from what he’d taught himself?

None. That’s who.

So, to scrape by, I had been living as cheaply as I possibly could, within reason of course. That means microwave dinners because, one I’m an utter mess in the kitchen even with the dinners, two I don’t have to worry too much about gas bills and three they can actually be pretty decent as long as you don’t get the same thing for a week! Also, candles and blankets work surprisingly well together as a replacement for using the radiators on chilly nights.

 I should start my own TV show!

“Barely managing to survive in your own house” – Now that’s a show I bet would rake in the money.

An amused sigh left my mouth, as I turned off the water and got out of the shower, wasting no time to wrap a towel around my body while grabbing another to dry my hair off. I stopped in front of the mirror, turning to face it as I analysed myself in it. Personally, I wouldn’t say I was the most muscular person in the world but nor would I say I wasn’t somewhat muscular, I was somewhere in between. Black skin, brown eyes and hair styled in a fade with a mess of a bush on top. With a frown, I aggressively rubbed the towel into my hair before grabbing a sponge with several holes in it to twist said bush into the iconic stylized look I like to call: “Skin fade with twists”

“I should copyright that” I mutter under my breath. All the money I’d be able to sue off of people if I hear them ask their barber for it.

After getting dressed in a plain black t-shirt, jeans and trainers of a similar colour, I went downstairs into the kitchen, making sure to pick up the newspaper by the front door on the way, and poured myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I mean, what better way to start the day than with coco pops?

Yes, I’m a child at heart.  
Yes, buying a two-story house may have been a stupid decision while I’m this young.  
No, I’m not bothered by either of these things.  
Well, maybe the second one a tad but I guess I’m planning for the future?

Moving over to the living room, I sat on the sofa and started on my breakfast while idly flicking through the paper in hopes of finding either an interesting story or an open job position. Only it didn’t take long at all for the latter to appear, the first thing that stuck out on the page was this picture of…

A bear?

Confused, I pushed my cereal away for moment because whatever this was it had piqued my interest.

_Freddy Fazbear's Pizza_

“That restaurant place a few blocks out?” I murmured, glancing up at the window as if I’d be able to see it from where I was sat.

_Family pizzeria looking_  
for security guard to  
work the night shift  
12 am to 6 am.

_Monitor cameras, ensure_  
safety of equipment and  
animatronic characters.

_Not responsible for_  
injury/dismemberment.  
  
$120 a week.  
To apply call:  
1-888-FAS-FASBEAR

I stared at the advert. Completely forgetting about my cereal, I dived to reach my mobile phone which was conveniently charging on the coffee table beside the sofa.

Note to self, don’t leave phone or charger downstairs.  
Take them upstairs next chance you get.

As I was putting in the number, I hesitated. A glance up at the text above the number which read “Not responsible for injury/dismemberment” was explanation enough. A nervous grin overtook my features as I looked at the phone and really wondered if what it said was legit. If it was then I’d be risking my body for the sake of just $120 a week. Is that really worth it?

My body or $120?  
Money or my personal safety?  
Life is full of hard decisions like this isn’t it…

 

…

 

_“Hello?”_

“Shit!” I cursed loudly, the somewhat quiet voice scaring me, as my hand jerked upwards causing my phone to launch up into the air and me to scramble to save it from falling to the ground. Clutching it with both hands, I let out a sigh of relief just before realising that I had actually called the number unintentionally. Damn muscles acting on their own! Panicked, I brought the phone up to my ear and said the first thing that came to mind

“Nero is me and I’d love to be a security guard for you please!” My mouth moved faster than my mind could come up with words meaning that mess of a request was going to be my first impression. Unless they heard me curse at the start. Then that’d make things just be really awkward.

The line was silent and I held my breath pleading that, as unsure as I was about applying, I hadn’t ruined my chances before even giving in to the opportunity.

_“Sorry, how old are you please?”_ The voice, female I might add, asked with a bit of suspicion to her tone which made me swallow the saliva that may or may not have been building up from my nerves.

“I’m seventeen, ma’am!” I more or less shouted, my anxiousness getting the best of me again led me to wince as I thought I had definitely ruined my chances this time.

_“Oh really? That’s great then, for a moment I thought you were like a fifteen-year-old or something”_ Her voice wavered slightly at the start, it was off-putting for some reason, but she quickly recovered. Although, should I be offended she just said I sound like a fifteen-year-old or just accept it and laugh in an attempt to brush over it?

I gave a half-hearted chuckle which quickly died in my throat when the line had gone silent again. What’s with this lady and going silent?

“Hello, you still there?” Calmed from my earlier embarrassment, I checked to see if I was still actually on the line to someone after the silence intruded for longer than I was comfortable with.

_“Oh, yeah! Sorry, sorry. Just sorting through paperwork, you know, managerial stuff and things.”_  No, I don’t know actually _“If you can get down here for quarter to twelve tonight that’d be fantastic and you’ll start tonight”_

“Eh, just like that?” My thought slipped out of my mouth due to the absolute disbelief that I had just been given a job like it was nothing. I had been looking for days and, all of a sudden, my search is over just through a simple phone call.

What the hell?  
SO ANTI-CLIMACTIC!

_“Yup! Any questions? No? Byee~!”_

“What? No way that’s it. No interview or anything! Do I even have any uni-” A drawn out beep signalled the end of the call.

Flabbergasted.   
That was the only word to describe what I was currently feeling.   
Only for the realisation to properly sink in that I’d actually got a job.

A silent fist pump to the sky and I was shoving my phone into my pocket, rushing upstairs to grab a jacket, rushing back down to the front door, grabbing the keys as I went, and rushing outside to my motorbike in some form of eagerness to get to see the place I’d be working at “I mean, it was odd, but I have the job now and it’s better I be prepared for it rather than turn up and not even know where to go on the first night” I muttered, quickly setting it as my destination on my phone.

The lock wrapped around my tire came off easily upon being unlocked and, seeing as it would be a short trip, I simply put it around my waist for the time being, as if it was a makeshift belt. Stupid? Maybe, but it beat the effort of raising the seat compartment up. Glancing at my phone, I realised that it had just gone half twelve and I groaned quietly as I leaned forward in my seat “Hopefully they’re not too busy, lunch rush and all”

It’s Saturday.  
Saturday lunch time at a kid’s restaurant.  
Of course they’ll be busy.

Just before I set off, I realised that I was missing a vital piece to my outfit “Damn it, my helmet’s in the house still” Although I could just go back inside and get it, looking at the entrance and just how many steps I’d have to take to get over to it (That’s like nine whole steps) dissuaded me from doing so and I just flicked my hood up instead “May not offer as much protection but it’ll do, looks like it’ll rain anyway…” With that said, I set off in the general direction of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, following my phone’s directions as best I could.

The journey there was actually shorter than I anticipated, it helped that there wasn’t much traffic on the roads and I hadn’t ended up taking a wrong turn at any point. The restaurant wasn’t much to look at from the outside, a simple grey building with a red band going across it at the top with “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria” written on the front and pictures of what I assume are the mascots of the place.

I shivered.

Seeing that the parking lot at side was basically full, I simply wheeled my bike onto the pavement where there was a bicycle rack standing just to the side of the building, in front of the car park, and unlocked the chain wrapped around me in order to lock my bike up to the rack. Now, up close and personal with the building, there was one large window which was looking into some sort of reception area with a guy sat behind a desk looking bored out of his mind.  As I made my way to the door, which was all the way to the right side of the wall to make space for the window, I checked the time yet again to find that only fifteen minutes had passed “Guess I’ll have to leave my house at around half past if I want to make it on time, probably earlier though. Just in case” I thought aloud quietly as I put my phone back in its pocket.

Pizza. Cheese and tomato, the overwhelming scent of sweet things and screams and shouts of children was what plagued several of my senses when I entered. Swiftly followed by a loud grumbling to which I whipped my head around several times to find the origin of. A repeat of the groan let me know it was my own stomach and I couldn’t help but facepalm when I realised “I hadn’t even finished my cereal” I whined to myself, rubbing my stomach gently, before sighing with the intent to now focus my attention on why I was there. 

Moving gingerly to the front desk, I could now see the man clearer who was sat behind the desk with his right elbow on the desk and head supported by his right hand as he kept it leant on the hand.  White, green eyes, black spiked hair. A rare combination, at least for me, to actually see in person but one I actually found myself fascinated by.

“Hello?” His extremely bored and monotone voice shook me out of my stupor of analysing his face with disappointment because I didn’t think the voice and the face went well together. Oh well, his genetics are probably the one to blame.

“Oi, sorry but the whole party room has been rented out and all the guest seem to have arrived already so if you want to come in you’ll have to-“

After listening to him say something that sounded like it had been read a thousand times and committed to memory, I decided to cut him off “Um, I actually work here now apparently…New night guard, got hired literally around twenty minutes ago?”

The moment I said “New Night” he had perked up completely with his eyes wide and his head off the hand he had been resting it on as he sat up straight and stared at me with some sort of fear. Did my voice scare him or something?

“You’re the new night guy?” I nod as he looks me up and down, I can’t deny that I feel a little uncomfortable with him clearly judging me “Poor kid”

“What?” My mouth instantly blurted out the question as soon as I picked up on the whisper under his breath, but he only waved me off before going back to his previous pose and looking at the computer he has set up on the desk.

“Head through the double doors over there” He jerks his head off to the left “And ask for a Mike Schmidt. I’m sure he’d love to help you out…” Something is off about his tone right at the end and familiar at the same time, familiar in terms of being recently heard. Shrugging, I give him a quick ‘thanks’ before walking briskly over to the doors.

Of course, I was still excited and eager to do what I came to do but my interactions with the receptionist man (or should I call him my co-worker?) had dulled down that excitement tremendously with his aura of being bored and his voice being basically devoid of any emotion. Was being a receptionist really that bad?

Regardless, I was here on a mission and I can’t stop and turn back now!

First impressions, face to face I mean, are everything and the receptionist telling whoever the boss is that I turned up and left before even finding them would certainly paint a bad image. Licking my lips, I pushed the door open and was battered with the even louder shouts of children and some sort of weird singing that sounded too robotic to be real. My hands reacted quickly, shutting the door to protect my poor ears from anymore abuse only to catch the snickering of the guy at the desk.

“My bad, should’ve told you the band were performing” What was the point of an apology if you didn’t even attempt to sound genuine!

A glare was all I sent his way as I went through the doors, better prepared for the noise this time. A few adults turned their head my way, only a few looked curious about me, but they soon turned their heads back to whatever it was they were looking at in front of them – to the right of me. Walking forward, I kept my eyes straight and weaved between the hyperactive children as I blocked out the singing for now – for some reason my head was screaming at me not to look at the source of it.

Literally screaming.  
Like, I just came in and now I’m getting the feeling I should actually leave.  
Odd, kinda scary, but doing this right was more important than my paranoia.

The employees loitering towards the back gave me confused stares, so I walked over to the closest one while clearing my throat “Um, hey there”

“Hey, can I help you?” He replied, his tone laced with weariness as he frowned and looked me up and down. Again, being judged like this made me uncomfortable and I couldn’t help but fidget a bit as I avoided eye contact.

“I think so? My name’s Nero, just got hired and I’m looking for a Mike Skidmt?” I explained briefly, making eye contact yet again as he finally stopped analysing me, eyes lighting up and eyes widening with surprise as a shaky smile etched itself on to his face.

“You’re the new night guard, huh? How old are you?” His tone completely shifted and, if anything, he seemed too cheerful now but I can’t complain. It suited the energy around us and it put me at slight ease that it didn’t seem like I was going to get in trouble as he accepted my explanation so quickly.

But then again, why does it seem so forced?

“I’m 17, sir” I said, getting a faint sense of déjà vu. His eyebrows raised. He pursed his lips a bit. Eyes glancing around quickly, before his brows lowered again and he sent me a sceptical look, leaning down a bit to reach my level.

“Really?”

“Should I be offended?” I quickly shot at him, getting defensive over the fact he didn’t believe me. I can take a lot of things, but when people are slow to believe my age that’s when my patience runs very thin very quickly. Hands rise up in a placating manner as he waves them gently in an attempt to calm me down.

“No, no…It’s just-” He paused when I sent him a fierce glare that dared him to say it.

Say I’m small. I dare you.

“Nothing, never mind” He looked off to the side as he rubbed his neck “And it’s Schmidt, not whatever you said” He quickly said as his head snapped back to me.

“Wait, are you the guy?” I asked, shocked when he nodded because of the fact that the person I’d been referred to looked to be in his early twenties.

Wait, why am I shocked?   
It’s not like reception guy really mentioned who Mike is or why I had to speak to him. Still, I was expecting some forty-year-old guy who ‘knows this place like the back of their hand’ and, while I don’t mind Mike being this young, I feel I would’ve felt more at ease with someone much older than me as opposed to a fellow young lad .

Mike was a brunette with hair that swept towards the left side of his face, brown eyes and noticeable stubble in place of a full beard. He was lanky, meaning he was a good couple of inches taller than me and was wearing what I could guess to be the uniform for the place – grey shirt and trousers and a black apron that said “Freddy’s Helpers” with a similar picture in the middle of the apron between the words which had the same animal trio from the front of the restaurant.

A bear, duck and rabbit.  
A chill goes down my spine at the sight of the cartoon logo.

“Hey, you okay?” I snapped out of my thoughts and back to Mike who was crouching just a tad to get a closer look at me, a smile plastered on his face. Normally I would be mad about it but considering this guy was my superior, I think, I let it slide.

“Yeah, sorry, just started day dreaming” I waved off the concern with a nervous chuckle. He didn’t look like he believed me if the eye narrowing was anything to go off so I quickly changed the subject “Anyway, I got hired a little while ago so I came to see what exactly I would be guarding…” I trailed off when I saw Mike’s grin falter slightly, eyes darkening.

“Yeah, guarding…” He said, sounding…Off? Again? I guess? Except, in this case, it sounded hostile but the hostility wasn’t aimed at me.

Wait, why on earth would he hos-

“Anyway, I used to be a night guard here too. Let me give you a few tips then in order to he-“

“No, I don’t want tips, I’d like a tour, thank you!” I cut him off quickly, stating exactly what it is that I had in mind. While tips would probably be nice, I’d forget them the moment I got home and even if I writ them down I’d probably leave them behind. So just seeing things should be enough for me.

“Are you sure? I mean, I’m definitely sure they’d help you out tonight” I nodded in confirmation of the fact I was sure “I’m not exactly allowed to tell you what will happen tonight but I can assure you going in with tips will incre-”

“I appreciate your insistence but it’s okay” I smile to show him I’m definitely sure about my choice but also to hide the small tickle of frustration that was building up.

I mean, the guys making it sound like there’s some big risk I should be worried about. The only thing I should be thinking about is what happens if a thief comes in. But who’d bother breaking into a pizzeria, right?

Mike shrugged, eyes narrowing as he turned his head away “Your loss” he muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing! Let’s take a look around” Completely brushing over what he just said, his over the top cheery demeanour back, he took my arm and dragged me all the way to the right side of the big room we were in and in front of a corridor very similar to one we were just next to. “Well, first off this is the west hall and the one we were just by was the east hall. As you can see, they’re just big corridors which lead down to what’ll be your office tonight”

A bit taken back by the amount of energy he put into showing me a corridor, I recomposed myself and asked “Can we go see the office then?”

“Nope, I’m afraid we can’t” He replied, as cheerful as ever. I frowned as I looked down at it, the lights that lit up the corridor so brightly made it hard to get a hint as to what was going on in there and if the light in there was even on within it.

“Why not?” I asked, curious but a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t get a glimpse at my future work station.

“It belongs to the boss during the day and one of the staff rules is that you don’t bother her during the day unless she comes out or it’s a really important and urgent issue” He explained, his voice turning serious at the end to punctuate just how much of deal that was “Oh, and the door just here is a supply closet which just has cleaning supplies and things. East hall is basically the same with a few changes in terms of décor and no supply closet” he carried on with a smile upon his face yet again.

“Nice” I said, not really knowing what else to say. Swiftly, he grabbed me again and dragged me just a few meters to our right, in front of a purple star covered curtain with a sign in front of it saying “IT’S ME” – Oddly enough.

Oof, my head.  
A strike of pain ran right through my head, causing me to rub at the side of it gently as my subconscious was screaming at my instincts to move away.  
Seriously, call me paranoid but I think my sixth sense is trying to warn me of danger!

…

  
Psh, I’m not Spiderman.

“This is pirate’s cove. It was shut down due to an accident from a while back, probably will never open up again” He paused slightly, looking at it with disdain as he bit his lip “Don’t ask” He says before I can even get the words out of my mouth. Next up, he grabs my arm again and I just let it happen even though I could tell him to let go, he takes us over to a door that’s closer towards the other side of the large room. My eyes trained on the grey wall to the left with the black and white tile stripe going across and pale red paint the lower third of the wall while the singing got louder as we got closer to its source.

Yet my body and mind still refused to let me look at the stage.  
Until we reached the door where I felt my body tense up.

He pulled me through the door, into a room littered with fake animal heads and some sort of metal skeleton sat on the table in the middle of it. My eyes made sure not to look directly at the heads due to the intense amount of discomfort they were causing me – it was difficult considering they were literally everywhere.

I was sweating.  
What is this?  
The hell kind of room filled with robot head and parts causes someone to break into a cold sweat?  
Yet my mind was fogging over slightly, causing me to stumble slightly, unable to focus on the words Mike was saying.

“Hey, you okay kid?” Mike, for the second time, snapped me out of my brain. I shook my head rapidly, trying to shake off the discomfort and haze to give him an uneasy smile.

“Yup, the room is just kind of creepy” I said, trying pass it off as a joke.

“Agreed. It’s off limits to the kids for a reason after all, not just because it’s the backstage room” He said, shoving his hands in his pockets as a pitying yet resentful look overtook his features. I chewed the inside of my cheek a bit, before shuffling back to the door.

My mind was clear now.

“Okay, so let’s move on, right?” I said quietly, hopeful that he’d get the hint that I want to leave.

“Yeah, right, let’s go!” Mike instructed as he quickly walked passed me and through the open door. He didn’t take my arm this time as he walked us to the back of the room where we once started “Heads up by the way, the place has been going through a bit of financial trouble over the year so if things seem a bit off or run down then don’t get too freaked out about, alright?” I simply nodded. Grinning, he turned to face me and stopped us against the wall before putting a finger to his chin “Oh right, there’s the kitchen as well but only the cooks and chefs are allowed in there. None of us out here know why, but it’s one of the rules so we follow it” He added, sending a look my way that screamed ‘don’t break that rule or else’

“Understood, sir” I muttered, somewhat fearful of what ‘or else” could be.

“Great! So, restrooms are through that doorway over there” He pointed over to a rectangular opening on the right side of the room – how the hell had I missed that on my way in? – before regarding me with the most intense look I’d seen from him yet “Make sure you go before your shift starts”

“Umm…” His stare was making me uncomfortable again.

“Swear to me that if you take away anything from this, you’ll take away that advice. Okay?”

“Okay! I swear” I said, wanting to quickly placate the man and the intense feel he was giving off. Again, he relaxed back into his casual stance which led me to think this guy appeared so casual on purpose so he could catch you off guard with all the mood swings he seems to go through.

“Good, now, saving the best for last” Sarcasm. Oddly placed and his voice slightly lacked the energy he had been forcing out previously “Take a look on stage for the most important things you’ll be protecting tonight!”

_‘ ~~Don’t do it!~~ ’                       ‘ ~~They’ll see you’~~                 ‘It’s me’                 **‘Can you be the bad guy?’ ~~~~**_

_‘ **You’ll regret it’**                 ‘Is it you?’                           ‘We’ll get our peace’_

_‘ ~~Once you go down this road you’ll have to complete it~~ ’                                                   **‘I’ll guide you’**_

Voices spoke out in my mind, each one layering over the other yet I could hear them with clarity that scared me. Had my mind just been invaded? Was I suddenly being haunted?

Instinct’s telling me to follow the “don’t do it”  
I really should.  
Yet the conviction wasn’t there in the voice. It felt more like advice.  
Plus my curiosity needs to be sated and that’s more important than petty fears.  
Right?  
Looking is inevitable, right?

Slowly, despite my better judgement, my head turned around to face the stage for the first time, eyes zoning in on the objects occupying it.

“"We-hell Chica wasn't that f-fun!"

"Totally F-Freddy! I can't wait till n-next time!"

"Yeah, I h-hope next time c-comes soon!"

Their voices sent a shudder down my spine as whispers of ‘it’s too late now’, ‘Reap what you soul’ and ‘it’s you’ echoed through my mind.

Three animatronic animals were on stage.  A brown bear with a top hat adorned atop its head and a bow tie placed where it’s neck would be. To its right was a purple bunny, with a red bow tie, holding an electric guitar and to the bear’s left was a duck wearing a bib with the words 'Let’s Eat!”. Let’s not even mention the creepy cupcake with eyes that it was holding on a plate. Taking a look at them, I couldn’t fathom why I was so against even glancing at them but yet another shudder went down my spine as my mouth went dry. I couldn’t help but feel I’d just made a huge mistake-

Wait, am I going crazy?!  
The hell?  
Why was I hearing voices in my own mind?!  
Holy shit, I mean I noticed earlier but it’s just sinking i-

"Say hello to the Fazbear team featuring: Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the bunny and Chica the chicken!" Mike chuckled. Although it was a bitter chuckle. Escaping my internal panic and revelation, I put all my attention on Mike with a pointed look even though he wasn’t looking at me, before pointing at Chica.

"Chicken? You mean the duck?" Mike quickly shook his head, looking back at me aghast with horror as I could only be confused about his reaction.

“No. Whatever you do, don’t call Chica a duck or-” He abruptly cut himself off, slapping a hand over his mouth which surprised me, before he shook his head “Or else things will happen” He ended ominously, a blank look overtaking his features as he faced forward again.

Odd. From all the little changes in tone, it’s clear this guy isn’t the biggest fan of this place despite how it seemed at first. So why is he working here still?

I turned back to the stage, shoving my hands in my pockets to hide my clenching fists, watching the animatronics move with discomfort. They were fluid with their movements, more human like than I’d care to admit. If their voices got fixed up so they weren’t so glitchy that would really sell the realism to me. But do I want that? As it is, it’s kind of creepy just how easily they moved – surely something that big looking would have more trouble, right?

"A-alright boys and girls, we'll be back later so until then p-please enjoy the p-" Freddy, the bear, suddenly stopped and turned his head to me, Chica and Bonnie quickly following suit. I seized up as they all made direct eye contact and I could hear the distinct sound of far off giggling in my head. A single bead of sweat dripped down the left side of my forehead, my eyes darting at all the kids who turned to look at me as well – Hell, all eyes were on me and I couldn’t help but be nervous, fists clenching tighter as childish laughter continued to echo in my mind.

Or was is that just one of the children?

"Umm...Mike?" I spared him a look at the edge of my vision and didn’t like what I was seeing.

“What the hell is going on?” He whispered to himself with a rather aggressive tone I wasn’t expecting, as he confusedly looked between me and the robots on stage, biting his lip in confusion as his gaze narrowed.

"H-Hey! Why don't you c-come on up-...Here" Freddy outstretched his arm, a foot moving forward and hand waving back and forth in a “Come here” motion, beckoning me towards him. Looking around, some of the workers were whispering amongst themselves as they had no idea what to do, at least I could assume that was the case from the fact none of them were moving.

“Miikkee” I drawled out, voice cracking in the middle due to how nervous I was as my body was stood stock still “What’s going ooonn?” I asked, almost like I was singing, as I buried my hands deeper into my pockets to hide them shaking.

Was I scared?  
A bit.  
Yes.  
Possibly.  
Was I going to show that I was?  
Lord knows I’ll do my best not to.

"Do-Don't be shy Kiddo! Come on kids lets encourage him!" At that a lot of the kids were calling for me to go up to the bear. Some parents could tell something was wrong but their concerns were being waved off by either other parents or employees who decided to take action.

Not the action I would’ve gone with, but hey what do I know?

“Okay, just go up there for now. Something is wrong, I won’t lie” I really appreciate your bluntness Mike, it soothes me so much “I’ll get the manager, see if she knows. I’ll be ba- Don’t give me that look!” Said look was an incredulous one (A brave face) at the fact he wanted me to go on stage with a group of robots that clearly had something seriously wrong with them “It’ll be fine. I’ll be back” He then rushed off without another word.

Sighing, I looked back forward, Freddy was now right at the edge of the stage, a grin on his face as he once again gestured for me to come up. Chica and Bonnie were right there along with him, encouraging the kids to encourage me.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.   
It’ll be fine.   
I’ll be fine. Right?

_‘Wrong’_

“Hush” I muttered at the mental voice that just taunted me, walking forward to the sound of cheers from the kids as I finally gave in to their wants. Although, maybe taunted is too weak of a word since I couldn’t help but notice the slight glee in the somewhat high-pitched voice.

Meh, what do I know.   
After all, I’m succeeding at staying relatively calm on the outside after hearing voices in my head and being thrown into this dangerous situation, heck I’d even managed to stop shaking as much as I had been before – maybe it’s all the adrenaline from everything that’s happening right now?

If that’s how adrenaline worked.  
Probably.

Having reached the front of the stage in a matter of seconds, Freddy’s hand stretched down to me and, hesitant, I took it and he basically dragged me up onto the stage with literally no time to prepare myself. Quickly regaining balance, I spun around to face the crowd and put out my arms for stability, which led to the kids cheering even louder as they must have seen it as some sort of pose with the gang. It may as well have been seeing how the trio had crowded around me and taken their own poses while I was stood still in confusion.

As they calmed down and the bots began addressing them again, everything in my mind began to haze over slightly and as did my vision as things got slightly blurry. I shook my head slightly, trying to get things back to normal, as my hand went to my head. My senses tuned out and the noise around dulled, even the feeling of Freddy patting my back was lost after a few moments. Abruptly, everything blacked out and a bright yellow bear face coated my vision accompanied by giggling. I didn’t even have time to react, that’s how quick it was there and gone. The giggling still echoed through my mind for a few moments. I blinked, wincing as a stinging sensation made its presence known on my back. Thanks Freddy.

“A-Alright guys! All together now! G-Group H-hugggg” I heard Bonnie call out to the kids, everything going back to normal before I felt the cold presence of three bodies surrounding me in some mess of a group hug between the animatronics and me. The kids echoed the word ‘Hug’ as, from what I could see, they all moved over to each other to give hugs and were laughing. The parents were laughing along. Everything seemed normal again and I sighed in slight relief, pushing back the panic in my mind as to what had just happened.

But then why was Bonnie’s body blocking the audience’s sight of me?

“We remember a face like yours…” I stiffened again, my body quickly twisting to look at Freddy behind me. His eyes were black with a singular white dot in the middle of each one “A face that is yours…” His voice was twisted, dark, demonic and something out of a nightmare. The fact it was whispered right into my ear sent chills down my spine. An involuntary whimper escaped my mouth.

_‘It’s me’                                                                ‘You’re the one, aren’t you?’  
                                ‘It’s you isn’t it?’               _

_‘We remember your face’                             ‘We’ll break you, like you did us’_

The voice whispered over itself, layer and I could only listen in fear and confusion, letting out a strangled cry as one of the arms around my stomach wrapped slightly tighter around it and was gently crushing me. Freddy’s eyes were trained on me, watching me intensely, before abruptly looking off behind me, eyes quickly reverting back to normal “We’ll show you little mercy” Freddy whispered, an extra squeeze prompting a wheeze from me when I tried to look where he was just looking.

The animatronics let go suddenly, taking steps back as Freddy stepped around me while I was regaining my breath. Again, blocking me from view. His voice overshadowed the coughing and noise I was making, not to mention the applause of the children.

“L-Like I said kids! This is a-a man me and my friends u-used to see a-a lot, ri-right Bonnie?” Freddy’s boisterous voice exclaimed, a massive difference to the whispers I was just subjected to.

“S-Sure is! He was sm-smaller when he last came b-but he was a g-good friend of the b-band!” Taking a few more seconds to properly recompose myself, I took deep breaths, shook my body off to try and relax it, wipe away the whatever it was that had gotten in my eye – definitely not tears, nope, no tears here – and appear cheerful as to not alert the audience that I just gone through something utterly traumatic. With a small grin, trying to look as natural as possible, I moved over to Bonnie’s side of the stage and made myself as small as possible as I got off the stage. Thankfully, only a few people looked over my direction as I stayed as close to the wall as possible and shuffled to the back of the room again.

"Alright, time for us to say b-bye! We'll b-be back la-later!" Chica called out, winking and waving out with a massive smile on her face. As she said this I managed to spot Mike back where we were stood before, only this time he was talking to some woman in a black office skirt and white shirt with a black suit jacket to go with it. I gulped slightly when I caught sight of her hips.

Goddamn, she has some hips.

"Bye Chica! Bye Bonnie! Bye Freddy" The kids chorused. I made my way over to the pair as the animatronics all said goodbye before promptly shutting down. Along the way I managed to hear some of the kids asking/whining to their parents that they want to get a hug from the robots as well. I could only cringe at the idea of a child experiencing what I just did.

“Mike, I’m never following your instructions again” I stated bluntly as I dropped the smile off my face, in its place came my tiredness making itself visible.

“Ow” He winced, as if I physically hit him “Was it that bad up there?” I nodded in response, briefly glancing over to the woman beside us that he was just talking with “Sorry about sending you up there then. None of us are really sure what just happened” He said as he now looked over to the woman.

Upon actually looking at her, I noticed the label on her chest that said ‘Manager’.   
That was all that caught my attention.   
Not the two noticeably large bumps nor the weird pattern in black showing through her shirt.  
Definitely.

Oh God I’m a pervert, aren’t I?  
But hey! This is like my compensation after having gone through that?  
Right?  
Right!?

The manager had fairly pale skin, her hair was long and black with half of it going down to just her right eye brow while the rest was tied back in a pony tail. Her eyes were a pretty bright green colour, making them stand out against her skin and I couldn’t help but be a little nervous around her. Not to mention her body was god like.

I had a girlfriend once.  
Doesn’t mean I’m exactly the most comfortable or confident guy when it comes to talking with pretty girls. I’m barely an adult as is, remember?

“This hasn’t happened before, I can assure you that much” Even her voice was perfect. I mean, I heard it over the phone but back then I wasn’t really paying attention to what she sounded like. Hot damn. Her head was tilted down in thought and her chin rested against the knuckles of her hand as a small pout formed on her face, like she was thinking really hard.

How old is she?   
She looks too cute to be much older than Mike.  
But her voice has that odd sexy mature tone to it.  
I need to stop.  
“They mentioned that you were a friend of the band?” She asked, snapping me out of my slight trance.

“Oh, um…Err” Look good, look cool, recover! “Yeah, but I don’t remember coming here as a kid…” Nice recovery! I watched as both the manager and Mike took on my words, yet neither said anything so I decided to elaborate “Also, um, they said some weird things like ‘We remember a face like yours’ and Freddy’s eyes were black, also there this moment where all I could see was a yellow bear plus there are these voices in my head tha-“

“Whoa, slow down there. Yellow bear, voices?” Mike interjected quickly, making me shut my mouth as I realised that I may have said too much and that stuff may not even sound believable. My mouth opened and closed repeatedly as I tried to explain, but then I caught sight of Mike’s face who didn’t seem to be shocked or in disbelief but more worried as he frowned deeply. His skin had paled and he glanced at the manager, who was looking in shock at me, before opening his mouth to say something.

“I’ve got to say that must have been pretty scary for you” The manager cut him off before he could even let out a noise, causing him to deflate instantly as he sighed, frustrated, while nervously grasping each of his own hands “I’m actually impressed that you’re as calm as you are now, especially considering your age, Nero, was it?”

“You remember my name?” I asked in surprise, a small part of me internally cheered at the fact I had impressed her. Little did she know that when I got home I’d probably pass out because this has all been far too overwhelming and I wouldn’t be able to take the embarrassment of breaking down in public.

“Obviously, you’re one of my employees now, right? I recognise your voice and Mike also told me who you were” She explained, brushing her hair behind her ear as she shot me dazzling smile which almost made me cry with the raw beauty and innocence I was being presented with “You really do look young up close, don’t you…” She muttered, her gaze firmly locked on me as her smile turned into a teasing smirk.

_~~‘Don’t trust her’~~ _

The voice startled me, causing me to quickly tense up before relaxing just as quickly. Even though I didn’t understand why, I couldn’t help but be inclined to agree.

Something was off.   
She was keeping something from me.  
Stopping Mike from saying anything.  
She was deceiving me into something with her charm and looks.  
She was playing too innocent and had changed the topic completely.  
Thing is, it was working.

“Well, I am young so…” I trailed off, chuckling awkwardly as I rubbed my neck. The manager laughed lightly while Mike just watched on nervously. He really wants to say something.

“Anyway, you remember what I said, right? Quarter to twelve tonight” The manager said, reminding me of when I needed to be here. To be honest, I don’t see why she doesn’t just tell me what I’ll be doing now but I guess it’s probably got to do with the fact that there is a party going on and maybe she’ll want to do a proper practical tutorial or something.

“If it’s okay, I think I’d rather be here for half past. Just so I have enough time to get familiar with everything and whatnot” I replied, letting her know I intended to be here earlier than she wants. She blinked at me, blank look on her face which made me concerned that I’d overstepped my bounds or something, but she clapped her hands together, a more genuine smile gracing her soft looking lips.

Strange that I thought this one to be genuine yet the first one she flashed me I had just thought to be dazzling.

“That’s completely fine. In fact, it’s perfect and I’m glad to see you’re eager to learn the ropes” She stuck her hand out “My name is Jade Sylvia. Looking forward to working with you” At this point Mike had actually been called by someone else in an apron and shot me an apologetic look laced with hesitance before moving away with them.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Sylvia” I took the hand, firmly as to appear confident, and gently shook it. Now that I think about it, a firm hold and gentle shake contradict each other aggressively.

“Just Jade is fine, Nero” She said, before giving a gentle tug and nod of the head to follow her, which I did. I couldn’t help the slight disappointment when she let go of my hand, it being smaller than my own made me feel good for some reason, as she took us out of the party room and to the reception where receptionist guy was still looking as bored as ever. But, when he saw me with the manager he saluted with a lazy smirk.

I gave him a thumbs down and he laughed quietly.   
Is this a friendship?

“Oh, by the way” Now at the front door, the manager paused before opening it, causing my attention to go back to her as our eyes met “There’s to be no weapons during the day in the restaurant, okay?” She gave me a sweet smile which held sinister undertones, causing me to straighten up and move my hand into my jacket to shift a handle which had been previously poking out, not that I had even known.

Wait how long had it been poking out for!?

“Yes ma’am!”

“I should probably take it away or report you or something. But since I like you, I’ll let it slide. Just don’t let me catch you with it around the kids, okay?” She opened the door, ushering me out.

“O-Oh, right! I won’t! See you tonight!” I spluttered out as I turned to face the closing door, the manager giving me a wave and smile as it closed before turning around and going back to the main room.

I watched her go.  
**_~~‘The Road You Now Walk Is a Dangerous one’  
~~_** Two voices of three simultaneously gave me that warning.

Keeping it all under control, I let out a massive breath of air and made my short trip to the bike rack where I left my bike and quickly unlocked it.

My hands were shaking again.

Hopping on, I put my keys in the ignition and listened as the bike let out a small roar as it came to life.

Raindrops began to splash onto my head as the sky darkened.

With a heavy, shaky sigh, I walked my bike backwards onto the side of the road before taking off slowly.

The rain began to splash down with aggression which would no doubt make the bike harder to control, especially with my vision being impaired with the water dripping down my face and the fat sploshes of it making it difficult to see far ahead. Thunder crackled in the sky.

I should probably put my hood up.  
A police car would probably pull me over.  
My arms were shaking violently as my mind went over everything that had just occurred.  
I could hear voices in my head – all of which I could tell didn’t originate from my own being.   
Was I possessed?  Was I actually being haunted? Is that why I wanted to get out so much earlier? Why are there children plaguing my mind?  
Why did I just get threatened by animatronics? What was that yellow bear? Why was I hearing voices? Why did this all start when I visited that restaurant? Why didn’t I leave? What’s wrong with it? Why did the robots smell so disgusting? How the hell was Freddy able to speak so clearly? What did Mike want to say? Why was he so insistent on giving me tips? Why did it feel like there was more meaning to that salute than a goodbye?

What was the manager not telling me?  
What’s being covered up?  
What’s being hidden from me?  
Am I crying?  
It’s just the rain?

I was in my house.  
I blinked. Once. Twice. Looking outside, my bike was placed and locked up where I normally put it and it was still pouring down with rain. Taking my shoes off, I dragged myself upstairs to the shower where I let the hot water wash over me. Yet it did nothing to ease the tension in my body, nor the shaking that was racking it nor even help wash away the taste of salt as tears continued to stream down my face.

Was I joking when I said I’d go home and pass out? Yes.  
What I meant was I’d go home and breakdown there because there’s no way I’ll splay my emotions out like this in public for strangers.

The person in front of them is an act, I don’t have many friends yet, I haven’t really spoken to anyone in ages, I haven’t been able to really be me in ages. So, until I can naturally be myself, I’ll keep up this façade.

...

 I hate being alone.

I want people I can talk to, joke with and trust.

It’s been killing me inside for a while now but I’ve pushed it away in favour of keeping up appearances.

To who? Myself.

If I don’t at least seem upbeat to myself then…Then it’d just make thing a lot more difficult.

…

…..

God I’m pathetic.

After having stood in the shower for a good few minutes, I switched off the water and dried myself off before slapping on some shorts and collapsing onto my bed. Tears were still falling silently and my hands were still shaking violently as the fear, worry and concern about everything that happened and my hate, discontent and sadness at being alone for so long hit me full force.

Call it a talent of mine. Distracting myself from how I’m feeling and then bottling it up until I can’t hold it anymore. Then this happens.

_~~‘calm down, I’ll help you put them together again~~ _ ~~, i’m here.’~~

Put who back together? Who are you in the first place? I don’t understand…  
Who are you?  
Why did you choose me…  
And for the love of God why are you comforting me…

…

why is it helping

......

My tears had finally stopped falling and my body finally ceased it’s shaking. Taking deep breaths, I began to calm down again. A hiccup left my mouth and I groaned out afterwards, an unexplainable need to just make some sort of noise after silently letting everything out causing me to do so.

Rolling onto my back, my eyes stared up at the ceiling.  
I was fine.  
I am fine.  
I’m calm now.  
relatively.

First of all, I need to come to terms with the fact that I have voices in my head. Three voices that I can hear and tell apart. None of which I really understand the source of other than something it being something to do with the pizzeria and it starting up because I had seen the animatronics – the heads, when my mind suddenly was hazy after suddenly having stopped trying to convince me (rather strongly) to leave. That’s probably when they got into my mind, how they managed to is a mystery though.

Fuck me, I should’ve left when I had the chance…

One seems hostile, taunting yet with a sense of childish glee and cheer which was unsettling. One I’m not exactly sure about as he had yet to make some sort of personality for himself and the other seems to care for me but again had that childish twist to it. Actually, I’m a bit unsure about how I feel having the voice of a child in my head acting like some sort of guardian or tormentor…

Again, the reasons why they’re here, I’m not sure. But if they persist and keep coming/speaking to me then I’m going to have to get used to it. So, I may as well accept their presence now rather than freak out about it every time they do.

A sigh left my mouth.  
I have voices in my head.  
And I’m going to live with that until they leave.  
Now I let that sink in, let my head accept that, get accustomed to it, see all the positives…  
Now back to the main issue.

“Okay, okay…I have to go back there tonight. I’m probably going to be alone with those animatronics, but it looks like they’re confined to the stage so chances are as long as I steer clear of there I should be fine” I mutter to myself as I sit up, reaching over to the small drawer I have beside my bed and placing my phone on top of it after setting an alarm to wake me up at ten. That’d give me a whole hour to get ready and then half an hour to get over there in good time.

“Now the voices, the voices, the friends in my head…” Recalling what I could, lines like ‘I’ll guide you’ and ‘Don’t do it’ were trying to be helpful to me in some way which backs up the fact that at least two of them aren’t trying to make my life hell or actually haunt me like I thought they were or something. We’ve established that they’re linked to the restaurant so maybe once I go back things will be cleared up? I mean it will be me alone with my thoughts for six hours and nothing to do, what better way to pass time than to speak with voices in your head?

God I’m going crazy if I’m already trying to make jokes about this.  
Wait, how would I even go about talking to them?  
How does one command voices in their head to speak to them?  
I’ll figure out the answers tonight. Probably.

Rubbing my face, I weakly scolded myself “No matter what happens tonight, or for the rest of the week. Don’t let this happen again” For getting so overwhelmed with everything and having a meltdown. I was stronger than this and damn it if a bunch of animal robots meant for kids scare me this much.

Even if they seem to be more than that.  
Anyway, lesson learnt, reflection done and I’ll be prepared for tonight, no problem!

Am I recovering from this too quickly?  
Maybe!  
Will I still probably be paranoid and scared and not really recovered as well as I’m making myself seem?  
Probably!  
But it doesn’t matter because as long as I don’t focus on it or let it get to me, then I should be fine, right? Right!

Shuffling up the bed and sliding myself in between the covers, I did my best to get as comfortable as I could so I’d sleep easier. The gentle pitter patter of rain outside relatively soothing my mind and the cool temperature going up against the warmth that I was getting inside my blankets was more than enough to relax me to the point of getting drowsy.

A song came to mind, an unfamiliar one yet it was humming with clarity and some form of recognition. With a small smile to attempt to cheer myself up further, I let one thought ring out in my mind before shutting my eyes;

I’m only going to be guarding a pizzeria, what’s the worst that could happen...?

 

…

 

I’m probably setting up a death flag or something aren’t I?  
Glad this isn’t an anime.


	2. The Unknown

**Nero POV**

_“AN ALARM SOUND IS HERE!”_ Lazily, I opened one eye and groaned as I rolled on to my back with my arm coming to rest on my forehead. The aggressive yelling of my alarm echoed around my room as the rain was still coming down with a vengeance. Rubbing my head, I could only get up in confusion as I questioned why exactly I had set an alarm for half-ten. Staring at my phone which was sourcing the obnoxious yelling, I noticed I had got a text from an unknown number so I reached for the mobile, switching off the alarm in the process, before trying to unlock it.

I need to change the wake-up tone for the alarm though.  
The yelling was a weird one that I found on google when I was younger and I kind of just stuck with it for a full year, by this point. Unfortunately, like all good things, I had grown tired of it but didn’t have the heart to get rid of it just because I still found it somewhat funny. So, I’d keep telling myself I need to change it but the day I actually did would be a day when I had literally nothing else to do. Procrastination at its finest.

“Ah” I let out a small noise of recognition, cutting off my thoughts, when I read the first line of the text. Not even realising that I’d opened it up.

_Hey, it’s Jade here_ _｡^_ _‿^_ _｡  
You called earlier using your mobile and   
I thought I should text you so you get my number!  
Now you have my contact details in case you need  
me, or for anything else you may need (_ _ღˇ_ _◡_ _ˇ)~_ _  
Remember you have work tonight, 11:30!  
See you then (_ _･ω <)_ _☆_  
Your boss xxx

By this point I was already up and headed to the shower, amused by the fact that someone older than me seemed to love using little faces to text. Let’s not talk about how my heart’s racing at the fact that the pretty woman texted me and sent kisses an– she’s my boss!

Can’t be heaving such indecent thoughts about her!

I slapped my cheeks and shook myself all around, trying to get rid of the sleep I had lingering in my body. If the shaking hadn’t got rid of it all then the shower probably will. After going through the very same routine I had this morning - shower, hair, same clothes and all - I decided that I’d actually message Jade back to thank her for reminding me.

_Hey, Nero here!_  
Thanks for the reminder, almost forgot actually, lol  
I’ll see you in forty mins

Nice, simple and to the point. At least that’s what I thought before sending it.  
Now I was cringing into my palms, my phone placed on the bed, as I mentally screamed.

Who the hell uses “lol” anymore?!

Sitting like that for a few more minutes as I baked in regret at my poor choice of text lingo, I was reminded of the days earlier events and abruptly sat up at the memory of the voices I had been hearing. Deciding to multitask, I swiftly moved downstairs and stuck a shepherd’s pie in the oven, which would only take around fifteen minutes to cook and like six or seven to eat. During this, I was trying to make mental contact with the “friends in my head” as I had so affectionately labelled them earlier. Only to get nothing but silence in response, which was what I expected yet it was still annoying.

Questions still plagued my mind as well. Despite how friendly she seemed to be, the manager was and still is hiding something from me. Not letting Mike say what he wanted to say to me, the way she cut him off was too well timed to be coincidental, was a big factor in making me think so as well. While there doesn’t seem to be any hostile intent from her or anything, fact of the matter is my instinct and head is telling me not to trust her.

Curse my hormonal teenage body and wanting to trust her because she’s hot.

Sighing, I pushed her out of my mind for the time being, resolving to ask her when I saw her later, and instead now focused my head on the animatronics. Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and Foxy. The stage trio and the outcast. While the latter hadn’t show their face, the other three had made their interest in me quite clear and the fear that was coursing through me at the time made sure that I’d imprint the visual of Freddy’s face with his blackened eyes into my mind.

I couldn’t help but shudder, something I’d been doing a lot recently, at the frightening image. The fact that they had actually made it so the audience wouldn’t see anything that happened in that little hug was scary. It meant that they were intelligent and if movies have taught me anything it’s that a smart robot is a dangerous robot. Well, these aren’t exactly robots but the thought still stands.

Wait.  
If they’re intelligent and capable of moving around, then what’s to stop them from coming off stage after hours?  
They clearly broke some sort of programming when they called me up on stage and clearly seem to be after me for whatever reason – Freddy said they weren’t going to show me mercy.  
If they can break programming for the sake of just calling me on stage, then what happens when I’m all alone in the pizzeria, after hours, in the dark, with presumably no one around.

What’s there to stop them from coming after me?

A loud alarm screaming out was enough to shake me from my thoughts, causing me to briefly panic before realising that it was probably just the alarm I don’t remember setting for my oven. Recovering from my fit of panic, I got up from my seat and began thinking more logically as I moved to the kitchen, the alarm still ringing as loudly as ever. Hopefully I don’t wake the neighbours, I mean sure it’s detached house but the thing is ringing concerningly loudly.

Anyway, I overlooked the fact that the animatronics would be shut down for the night, probably. Letting out a sigh, I put on my oven gloves and shifted over to oven itself, the air getting oddly stuffier the closer I got to it. Unless they can magically switch themselves on, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about from the four of them.

Pause.  
I was literally just about to grab the oven door; a cough left my mouth as I struggled to clear my throat.

Four animatronics, where did that number come from?  
I only saw three today.  
Wait, did I mention a Foxy?  
What the hell is a Foxy?

**‘A Fox’**

The only male voice in my head cackled as it delivered the stupidly obvious answer and I could only roll my eyes as I continued my quest to retrieve my dinner. Glad to see that I hadn’t imagined all the voic- Wait, is that really a good thing? Plus, why did it only just respond now despite me earlier trying to reach out to them? I still don’t understand anything to do with them, it seems…

“Shut u-” I was instantly cut off the moment I opened my oven as something strange invaded my throat and filled my lungs as I tried to breathe in. I could only cough in desperation and flinch away as I tried to clear my throat and get clean air. Which was oddly difficult.

“What the…” Finally focusing on my surroundings, I could see the smoke streaming its way from the oven and into the air around me. That alarm wasn’t the oven, it, at no point while I’d been living here, never even had an alarm! It was the smoke detector going wild!

“FUCK!” I screamed, rushing to grab the dish inside, internally yelling in agony as I absolutely disregarded my own safety and shoved my sleeveless arms into the oven and yanked out the badly burnt dish.

**‘Idiot’    ‘** ~~be careful’~~ **‘Put it in the sink’  
                                ‘Hurt Himself’                   ‘** ~~your arms’~~ **  
**                 ‘ ~~i’ll fix you’~~ **‘Special kind of stupid’  ‘** ~~cool water’~~

The voices overlapped, the sarcasm, amusement and cackle of craziness from one and the tender, gentle, caring tone from the other, which I was actually rather grateful for – apart from the “I’ll fix you” line. That’s kind of creepy.

Actually, it’s very creepy.

 A small hum ran through my head, which I ignored as I rushed about, inadvertently following the instructions I had been given by dashing the burnt dish and container in the sink and running the cold water tap over it, before sticking my forearms in the stream, wincing at first but slowly relaxing as the slight stinging present faded away.

~~‘cool not cold’~~

My arms paused, before turning the tap more towards the right in the direction that would turn the water slightly warmer and slowly moving my forearms into the stream as they pressed together. Despite their childish voice, the girl in my head was actually quite motherly. I appreciated it. The alarm had stopped it’s blaring at this point, well it’s more like it died out slowly as the battery gave up on life. Sighing, I glared at what was left of my dinner “This is your fault” I whispered at it, before turning off the tap and surveying the damage done to my arm.

It wasn’t much. Small patches of my skin were slightly darker than the rest, tinted red, but other than that there didn’t seem to be much to it nor did it even seem like it would scar. Guess I overreacted.

**‘Understatement’**

“You’re annoying” I instantly shot back, the attitude and sass getting on my nerves. While I was still mildly disturbed, even more so at the fact I was willingly conversing with them (It’s the quickest way to get used and over them, right?), by the fact there were voices in my head, I wasn’t exactly willing to just let one of them think they could say whatever they wanted and ignore me when I actually tried to converse with them in my head.

But then again, how exactly could I stop him from doing that?

His voice cackled again as the thought ran through my head. Another sigh left my lips, as I got out another oven meal – I buy this stuff in bulk, that’s right – and put it in the oven at a higher temperature in hopes of it cooking slightly quicker. This time I was going to watch it carefully and not wander off into the little world that is my head.

Around eighteen minutes passed before it was done, at least from the look of the food and how long the box said I’d be in there and another handful of minutes passed before I finished scoffing it down. It was just a medium pizza, surely it wouldn’t have taken that long to eat. Washing the dishes swiftly but leaving the burnt stuff in the sink, I quickly made my way upstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face quickly again. Just as I reached my bathroom, a small ding went off which reminded me of the fact that I left my phone on my bed.

My phone which had the time on it.   
Time which I had spent messing around with dinner.  
Instead of making my way to the Pizzeria.  
Which I had completely forgot about with all the mess that just happened.  
Shit.

I literally dived for my phone, swiping away the message notification with it barely registering in my mind, in order to get a clear look at the time. To my horror it was just about to go twenty to twelve. Quickly, I unlocked my phone and checked the messages that I had been sent. Straight away I went to the latest one.

__  
I’m serious, Nero! I need you here right now.  
Before twelve. I need to make sure you’re here  
safe and can complete your job. Just this one  
night, if you want to quit please let me know  
in the morning. I’m begging you.

I couldn’t read the rest of it due to the panic coursing through my veins. Even the two in my head, the third strangely absent I just realized, were trying to speak but I couldn’t hear them. Worry and concern over the desperation in what she wrote was filling my mind and, before I knew it, I was spitting out mouthwash into my bathroom sink, splashing my face with water and sprinting out of it. Grabbing my phone as I went, I practically fell down the stairs with how much I was stumbling before switching off the lights I had left on and grabbing my keys. A quick glance at my phone let me know I now had only nineteen minutes before it was twelve.

Shoving it back into my pocket, I opened the door and rushed out, letting it slam behind me. It was cold outside but that was good because it’d keep me alert.

Shit, I need to lock the door still.  
Fuck!  
I turned around, sprinting back to the door and locking it with haste, before rushing back to my bike.

The rain? I can ignore that and I’m sure I’m a skilled enough rider that I can make it without incident.

~~‘calm down’~~        ‘ **Crazy Kid’     ‘** it’s me’ **  
‘Slow down’**      ‘ ~~cold’~~ **‘You can’t’**  
          ‘ ~~help you’~~    ‘you’ll break’

As I fiddled with my lock, deciding it’d be wiser to put it in my seat compartment this time, my body tensed up at the familiar voice which had made its chilling return. Despite its innocence, sounding similar to the other small girl, this one was actually frightening due to just how innocent the words she said were yet how sinister they actually were. The same thing happened at the pizzeria, with her laughter and her whispers while I was on stage. I shook my head, the rain still splattering against my face as lightning crackled against the sky with thunder’s roar lagging behind. I needed to focus.

“I’m not crazy, I can do this. I’ll be fine, help me if you’re here to do that” I said to myself, the voices I mean, jumping on the bike and cringing as my jeans got even wetter than they were before.

Perhaps I was taking this too seriously.  
Maybe I shouldn’t be as rushed as I am.  
However! Paranoia, worry, fear and panic are strong motivators.  
Fuck me, I’m trying to make jokes at a time like this, that’s how you know I’m an optimist.  
Is that even the word I’m looking for?

By this point I was walking my bike onto the road, starting up the engine quickly and gaining speed even quicker. Although, I was starting to see why they were telling me to calm down. The road was slick and wet to the point I’d have to put my brakes on much earlier than I normally would in order to stop safely.

Let’s just pray that there’s next to no traffic on the streets this late.

By the time I had reached the restaurant, locked my bike up and got to the entrance I could just about see the manager in the reception, leaning on the desk, with the lights switched off in the room – yet the party room was still lit? Wiping the water off my face, or at least trying to since it was pointless with rain still coming down, I entered with a breath and was quickly spouting out an apology

“Jade, I’m so so sorry things happened and dinner got burnt and arms and then lost time voices causes because of-” She was quick to cut me off, her hands coming to my cheeks and a look of relief washing over her face. We stood like that for a few seconds, before Jade quickly snapped out of it and reached down to my hands instead of my face.

“Listen” A glance at the clock told we only have three minutes “You remember everything I’m about to tell you, okay?”

“Okay” I said, slightly breathless because of the closeness and contact between us but also because of the relief I had that she was indeed okay.

My fear that she would go through an experience similar yet worse than mine earlier was alleviated. Yes, I was scared that would happen, even though I hadn’t realised that I was.

“You’re going to run into that office, okay? Don’t look back, just run”

“What?” I cut her off, my hands flinching violently back at the intensity of her voice. She hesitated a moment, as if she was considering saying something but she quickly shook it off and gripped my hands tighter, a slight edge of desperation to her voice now.

“There are instructions on the phone. Listen to them. Don’t waste power. Don’t leave that room. You’re so young and I meant to explain everything to you when you came-”

**‘Lie’** ‘you won’t survive’ ****  
‘ ~~don’t trust her’~~

“You were hiding something from me?” I asked, my voice smaller than I meant it to be. She bit her lip, her eyes losing some of the glimmer she had and being replaced with something…

Apologetic?  
It was gone as quickly as it came.

“I was desperate for someone to take this job, you understand, right?” The voices in my head, the man and girl both telling me she lied and the other girl taunting me, were making it difficult to think clearly. She glanced at the clock again, eyes widening. A flash of lightning outside lit up the room enough for me to notice the fact she was dripping as well.

“Di-Did you go outside for m-“

“No, it doesn’t matter. If you remember anything from this, remember this; If you start losing will, just remember it’s only ‘til six. Then you can go!” Before I could even question her, she yanked me forward, making my stumble as I struggled to regain footing, before pushing me forward toward the double doors to the party room. “Now run!”

The urgency and panic that she put in to her words, the confusion about what’s going on, the fear that I was genuinely at risk, the paranoia I had earlier. It was all contributing. Without second thought, I bolted down the office, slipping slightly on my way, before making it the east corridor as the main lights abruptly went out. A shriek left my mouth as the sudden lack of light engulfed me and spurred me on to reach the only room with a bright light still on within it.

Gripping the side of the entrance I swung myself inside, panting heavily as I leaped into the seat and…

Wait.  
Now what?

The male in my head cackled with amusement as the nice girl child let out a soothing hum, the other girl let out a laugh with an innocent tone to it but I was unsettled by it instead. One deep breath later and I was finally calming down, albeit slowly. The room was silent apart from the buzzing of the fan and sound of the light flickering, which I was grateful for.

The noise, I mean. Not the actual light flickering.  
Dead silence would have put me more on edge.  
Not that I wasn’t still on edge.

Now that I was here, my rush earlier felt completely unneeded and overdramatic and I could only facepalm at how irrational I had been. Hell, I risked my life just to get here quickly by going out in the rain and practically speeding in the middle of the night on a wet surface, on a bike and without a helmet. My hand pinched my shirt, pulling it from against my skin and I grimaced as it quickly stuck back to my chest again. My clothes were wet and I didn’t have a jacket, or anything to dry them or warm me up.

Frustrated, I groaned as I realized just how stupid my panic and rush to get here earlier was because now I could end up with a cold which would be massive bother. Then again, the question remains of why exactly had the manager made it seem like I’d die or something unless I made it here before twelve?

“And why was everyone up here so opposed to her?” I asked, knocking gently on my head in reference to the voices I was quickly becoming fond of despite their strangeness. Well, fond of at least two of them I mean. There had to be a reason because my opinion of her was now being shaken, even if she was pretty…

No response.

My lips cracked a slight smile in an attempt to calm and cheer myself up further, somewhat amused at the fact that I never get a response from any of them when I want one. Sighing, I noticed I had been sat here for a good while now, around six whole minutes and nothing had happened.

“Guess I really was panicked over nothing” I murmured, leaning back in my chair with a frown as I observed my surroundings. In front of me was a desk which held the fan, slowly spinning away, as well as a bunch of papers, a group of small television screens, a cup and ball of papers. I wasn’t too bothered by the papers since they were probably the manager’s and a shake of the cup revealed that it was indeed empty. That sucks.

The wall above had a big poster of all three characters on stage and beside it was a litter of hand drawn pictures, probably by the kids. Both halves of the wall were extremely creepy and I grimaced when I found myself staring into the eyes of a cupcake plushie. It’s massive eyes staring down at me.

The thing was creepy.

Underneath the desk was a large speaker and, something I hadn’t noticed, was the phone sat on the desk as well. Must have just thought it was another screen. Regardless, I ignored it since it didn’t require my attention and instead leaned back in my seat, trying to source some form of entertainment from the recess of my mind.

Although, the longer the lack of action pressed on the more and more I found myself unintentionally relaxing. Before I knew it a whole ten minutes passed and I let out a sigh as I thought back to the thoughts I had while making(burning) dinner and what had happened when I was here.

“Geez, I was so worried earlier and everything, thinking that they’d come after me or something” I let out a small laugh, but it quickly died out when no one else joined in. I stretched forward, leaning on the desk as I inspected the screens placed in front of me. They were probably hooked up to the camera system, but there was probably no need to check them, right?

The man and little scary girl in my head laughed in harmony, one deranged and the other giggling sweetly in a not so sweet way. The other nice girl let out a hum in slight concern.

Why are they laughing now or, actually, why was nice girl concerned?  
Was my joke that good and she’s worried about why the others laughed so late?

Shrugging it off, I leaned back again and returned to my musing, continuing my train of thought “They’re shutdown. What happened earlier was a fluke that was a glitch. They won’t switch on…” I trailed off, eyes widening in mock horror as I slapped my hand against my mouth “Unless they’re haunted!” I gasped, before dragging my hand down the rest of my face with a sigh “As if” I smiled, my brows lowering in concern due to the chill that just entered the room.

The silence in my head felt too quiet.  
If that makes sense?  
Plus, I swear I’m the one being haunted, or something like that, anyway?  
Not that it bothers me that much anymore…  
God I resign myself to things too easily don’t I?  
But who can fight fate? Surely it was my fate to end up host to three lost souls?!

“Whatever” I snorted, brushing off my thoughts, spinning around in my chair as my regular cheer was finally making a comeback after such a messed-up day “Like I said, easy money! Manager was just trying to get me back for being late, probably…No one and nothing will happen tonight!” I declared with a grin.

Was I cheering up too quickly?  
Was I actually being genuine?  
Am I actually scared and worried but hiding it behind this act in order to ignore it?  
All of the above may be true. Who knows. I don’t.

_ 12:20 _

Deciding that sitting around lazily isn’t exactly the most efficient way of spending my time, I wheeled myself forward to the desk and switched on one of the screens. A loud buzz and click sounded as it switched on, the image having a lot of static for a moment, before it cleared up with the whirring sound of the camera as it focused.

My whole body froze.

The fan, the light, everything muted out.

My eyes were glued to the small screen labelled show stage, a power bar in the corner reading 99% as well as a usage bar with two green rectangles. My breathing felt like it had completely stopped.

Three animatronics.  
Bonnie, Freddy and Chica.  
Despite being on stage as normal, they were staring directly at the camera, their bodies facing forward and only their heads in my direction. It wasn’t my eyes playing a trick on me either. Their eyes were directly on the camera.

I licked my lips because they felt dry. Hell, my whole mouth felt dry after seeing that.

I thought they were switched off?  
So why are they looking at me?  
Eyes wide and all.  
What the fuck.  
What the fuck.

What the hell?

A yelp escaped my mouth when the phone suddenly rang to my left. Hurriedly, I reached over to it and put it to my ear, praying that it was Mike or the manager to explain what the hell I just saw – completely forgetting that they’d have no way of knowing what exactly was happening.

“Hello?” I didn’t get an answer. That’s when I noticed a red flashing light on the phone itself just above a button. Without even reading what the button was, I pressed it, hoping it’d be something useful.

_Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?_

My mouth hung open, my eyes quickly going back to the screen I left on to see the animatronics now staring forward again. I paused.

Was I seeing things?

Quickly, noticing my power had gone all the way down to 97%, I switched off the screen with the realization that switching it on drained power somehow. Which meant switching more than one on at the same time would be a big no no because it’d drain power and if power went out completely then that means I’d be left alone completely in the dark with those things which are still on.

Which means they can move!  
Holy shit.  
But surely, they can’t come off the stage! Otherwise they would have during the day, right?  
Fuck me. I don’t know if they did that after I left or before I came or something.  
That means they’re free to come after me! That’s not good!

_Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too._

I do appreciate the humour. I really do. Currently, my own sense of humour is what’s trying to keep me from curling into a ball and screaming in fear.

Surprisingly enough it’s working.

Okay, okay. I was staring at the phone as it paused for a moment. Deciding to be smart, I switched on the stage camera again, relieved to see that they were still all on the stage. Again, I switched it off and put my attention back on the phone as the guy continued talking.

_So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long._

Absolute dread engulfed my body, the gentle humming of the nice girl in my head doing little to help my situation despite the fact she had been at it for a while by this point. I just hadn’t noticed nor even realised the song was the one I had thought of during the day.

“Free roaming means they roam around the place. Meaning they do come off stage…” My hands went to my head and I clutched my hair tightly “Meaning they could come to me…and then what?”

_If they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit._

Fuckin’ grade A isn’t that?

_Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh._

I grit my teeth as I fought back tears that seemed to want to spill out. So, not only was I already at risk because the animatronics were targeting me but now it’s also because of some sort of protocol? Who installs the idea into robots that things that aren’t like them need to become them?

Someone trying to bring around the end of the world that’s who!  
I let out a nervous chuckle, the humming in my mind still continuing which I was thankful for as it definitely was soothing my conscious – oddly enough.

Wiping my eyes, I let myself grin, although it was an aggressively shaky one, and put my fist to my chest “Shinzou Sasageyo!” I tried to make myself smile with a reference handful of people would get. Before my eyes noticed something they hadn’t before which, considering how blaringly out in the open they were, is actually disappointing.

There were buttons beside the doorways. The button on top said light and the one below had door written below it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that means. Although, surely, I could just sit here with the doors down all night because wouldn’t holding them up be draining power rather than having them down?

I mean, from what I can tell, the doors are metal and slide down from the top of the doorframe so letting the down and stay there should require less energy than holding them up?

Wanting to test my theory, I switched on one of the screens in front of me, which happened to be a camera in the supply closet for whatever reason, and then moved to press the door button on the left. Only to press the button quickly again when the usage jumped up to three bars, changing colour to yellow. It returned to two bars, my power ducking down to 96%.

I kicked the wall under the buttons in frustration.

“So this is what they meant by not responsible for injuries” I muttered bitterly, my emotions all over the place as everything began to click into place. Mike insisting to give me tips. Him wanting to speak. The manager not letting him. Her desperation to get me in before I could reconsider.

This is what she was hiding from me.  
This is what they were trying to warn me about?  
Is this why they’re with me? To act as some sort of guide?

**Genius** ~~sorry~~ will you die? **Fight** no mercy **  
**~~i’m here~~ it is you    **Be smart** ~~stay calm~~ ****  
you can? ~~we can fix it~~        it’s me!

Mixed messages.  
Two of support.  Crazed. Gentle.  
One of childish hope and wonder.  
They overlapped and I sighed.

“I’ll survive. I’ll make sure”  
**We always come back**  
“That’s right!” I agreed with enthusiasm, getting swept up in the energy as the voice let out it’s crazy laugh, gentle girl letting out a hum of confusion and curiosity while her counterpart stayed silent. I say that because the silence was noticeable for some reason…

_00:57_

Almost an hour had passed since I came here. A forced laugh came out of my mouth “Maybe this is all just an elaborate prank” I said, my feet on the chair as I had curled into a ball and was just currently lying in wait. Deciding to be conservative, I was only going to check the cameras once in a while to make sure that my power didn’t drain unnecessarily. I had already memorized which screen was for which camera after briefly switching each of them on and taking notes in my mind and I could only pray that I didn’t mess up later.

Tense, I let myself enjoy the gentle humming going in my mind, not fully relaxing yet not fully stiff in order to be able to react should anything happen. But when the clock reached one, I couldn’t help myself as I unfurled myself and scooted over to the stage camera again “Please be normal, please be normal” I chanted quietly.

Eyes widening was the only reaction I could muster as I stared at what was on the stage. Or rather what wasn’t on the stage. “Where’s it gone?” I asked, quickly switching off the screen and instead moving over to what I think was the party room camera. Only to find I was dead wrong as I shot backwards into my chair upon looking at Pirate’s Cove.

“Foxy” I breathed, remembering the name of the animatronic I had somehow been able to name earlier in the night.

Still unsure why or how I could, by the way.

Peeking out from the purple curtains was a long snout, mouth hanging open with several sharp teeth, connected to a fox shaped head with glowing eyes staring directly at the camera while the rest of its body followed the whole fox theme. A giant robot fox basically. However, I couldn’t linger on the camera long since it was draining power and I still needed to find Bonnie- Wait did the sign always say ‘sorry out of order’?

Shaking off the thoughts with a “Probably” I switched off the screen and moved towards the left set of screens again, thinking that the party room one was hopefully over there, low-key forgot which camera was which, when some movement outside the left door caught my attention.

At least I think there was movement outside.

Hesitantly, I edged forward toward light button, my heartbeat quickening its rhythm the closer I got to the button.

**WRONG**

I quickly changed trajectory as I made out the distinct shape of rabbit ears and could only let out a massive heave of relief as I threw myself back into my seat. Cautious, I pressed the light button and could just about make out the animatronic’s shadow on the wall. A curse left my mouth at just how close that was.

It was just inches away from me.  
It literally could have grabbed me when I hit the light.  
Even if I reacted to avoid it, what would happen if it got in?   
I would get forced out and run for my life, that’s what.

Distracting myself from my brush with some type of death, I shifted over to check the stage camera where both Freddy and Chica were still stood stock still. Why they didn’t all rush me at the same time is a question that strayed my mind, but I ignored it in favour of just being thankful they didn’t otherwise my power would’ve drained faster than I was comfortable with. I eyed the yellow bar and 90% beside it with slight dissatisfaction.

Those two better stay on stage.  
My power is draining faster than I would like.  
Ideally, I would’ve still liked to be at 94% just five minutes ago, but you know!  
Life sucks.

Deciding to do a quick sweep, the fox was still in the same position and the rest of the rooms seemed to be-

…

My eyes went to the door on my left before I slowly wheeled myself over to it, eyes going back to the screen and staying on it as my hand could reach the light button. One press and glance at the window later confirmed the disbelief I was feeling. Shakily, I pressed the button to open the door and wheeled myself back over to the screen which had “Backstage” on it. Bonnie had suddenly appeared in the room and was standing near the door, like a creepy silhouette in the darkness. Its eyes were trained on the camera and I couldn’t help the nervous grin that slowly made its way onto my face.

Wait, is there a phone on the table in there?

“Guess this is what it feels like to have a stalker” I attempted a joke to lessen my growing tension, distract myself from the phone I’m sure I’m imagining and to ignore my fear at just how fast these bots could move but, as if responding to my bad humour, the camera cut to static and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding.

Although, I didn’t even manage to make a comment about it because I was too busy recoiling back in shock and horror because now a purple bunny shaped head had engulfed the screen. Its mouth was wide open and the eyes were blacked out with only a single white dot standing out in the abyss. Strangely enough, the head looked like it had been decaying, rotting even, with some sort of dark spikes of liquid around the bottom of it – as if it had been bleeding, or, actually, as if blood had splattered against it. That was a better description.

Despite just how clear and obvious it looked, during the day I hadn’t noticed anything like that on the animatronic so maybe it was just the camera playing tricks on my eyes?

“Whoa, this place is making me so nervous that I’m seeing things and hallucinating!” An emotionless laugh left my mouth the moment I realised that something like that wouldn’t be that far-fetched considering my mental situation already. And the fact that it’d already happened earlier in the day. I crumpled back into my chair as the camera changed to static for a moment, expecting the thing to be in the position it was in previously. Only to sit straight back up when it was gone from the room completely.

“Sonic the fucking hedgehog” I cursed loudly as I quickly brushed through the camera’s in a desperate attempt to find the bunny again.   
What was its name again?

_01:57_

By the way, turns out someone did leave their phone on that little table backstage, weird right?  
Must be an employee, I think, but why wouldn’t they come back and get if because, surely, they’d have enough time after their shift ended? Unless they start late in the evening or something…

“You come around here often?” I said, casually spinning in my chair and leaving behind the mystery that was the forgotten phone as I locked eyes with Chica, I think its name is, outside my door. Everything was sort of blurring together and the names of the animatronics were escaping me.

It had been there for several minutes by this point, wasting my power, and I had quickly gotten accustomed to its presence after the first spook of seeing it there with its beak open wide. What’s with all these guys and having their mouths open as well?

Getting up, each of the voices in my head making a noise of curiosity, I walked over to the window where the chicken was.  After a glance at the door behind me, I pressed the light switch to Chica’s window, unable to supress the slight flinch at just how close she had gotten to the window.

Now that I think about it, apart from the voice she doesn’t exactly seem feminine at all.  
Same could be said about Bonnie as well to be honest.

“Could you leave, I’m 100% human and not an endoskeleton so there’s no need to try and stuff me…” I trailed off when all she did was blink at me, before her eyes narrowed.

Wait, what?  
Eyes narrowed?

I looked at her eyes again, focusing on them only to see the same blank animatronic stare. Must have been seeing things then. Deciding trying to make conversation was pointless, not that I had much hope in the first place, I checked the stage again, glad to see the main bear was still looking out to the party room, before scooting over to scout out the party room “Bonnie’s moved…” I muttered when I couldn’t see him stood in the middle of the room.

Scanning through the cameras, pausing on Pirate’s Cove now that ‘Foxy’ was completely off its stage, head titled, jaw hanging wide and a hook in the air, I managed to track Bonnie down and was slightly confused as to why he was in the Supply Closet. I mean, it’s the first time I’ve seen him in there so I can’t help but wonder…

Why on earth would he take such a detour into an empty little square room?

Pushing the issue to the back of my mind, I tapped the light for the right door and perked up slightly upon noticing that Chica was now gone. Only for that slight cheer to disappear moments after I opened the door as I now rushed over to the left door and slamming it shut just as a loud step echoed right outside.

Bonnie had just rushed me.  
In the seconds I had put down the camera he had full on came at me.  
What the hell.  
If they can move that fast then I’m screwed if both of them come at me at once.  
Holy shit, if they somehow manage to move quickly and silently while I’m distracted them I’m absolutely fucked.

My forehead pressed against the door, the cold metal contrasted against the heat that my skin was producing even though my clothes were still practically soaked and the room wasn’t exactly hot, or even warm at all. A groan left my mouth as my mind began to consider the fact that I was actually coming down with some form of cold or fever.

“You need to die…” One of the voices in my head whispered. Wait, sorry, no, this one was new and I hadn’t heard it before. She sounded more like she was in her teens, her voice quiet and scratchy as if she hadn’t spoken in years. Not to mention the breathing I could hear from her that sounded more like wheezes and quiet groans, which I had not heard at all from any of the others. I shrugged, head still against the door. The more the merrier I gu- “You’ll get your comeuppance…”

**My Victim** My friend **  
        **~~my creation~~

My head shot up abruptly, eyes wide, as the three voices cried out in some sort of recognition.

That voice hadn’t coming from my head.

My eyes darted to the window next to the door, where I could see Bonnie’s figure present but I was unable to see how exactly he was standing. My mouth suddenly felt dry as my hand made its way to the light button, my body didn’t react at all to seeing Bonnie stood facing me through the window. His large frame causing me to look up at him to make proper eye contact as it stood stock still watching me.

“W-What…?” I stammered quietly, eyes darting around quickly to make sure I wasn’t daydreaming and that I was genuinely in the office still.

“You sowed your fate the minute you came…” The voice said, seeming to originate from what I once thought was a male animatronic.

Wait, go back a second.  
Did someone just say children and victims?

“We won’t let you live to hurt…” Bonnie seemed downcast, which was surprising to me because it’s an animatronic and such emotion shouldn’t be possible to see. But they suddenly straightened up, their eyes flashed black briefly as the light flickered off. I could only watch and listen as the animatronic stalked off.

Absolutely petrified.  
Fuck me man.  
I want to go home.

I curled up in my seat, brining my feet up into the chair and knees to my chest. My arms wrapped around them as I waited until the heavy steps couldn’t be heard before opening the door again.

“Comeuppance? What the hell…What have I done? I haven’t done anything, holy crap. Oh my God…I’m the nicest guy I know, I wouldn’t hurt anyone, what did it mean?” I gently rocked forward and back, this time I didn’t have any humming from the kind voice and was left with ambience and my own muttering about what I had just been subject to.

Laughter echoed throughout the building.  
The whimper that escaped me only confirmed the build-up of emotions that was threatening to release.

Yet I wouldn’t let it.  
This situation; I had to be strong.  
Laugh in the face of danger!  
No matter how scared I may be!  
Smile and press forward!  
A hero smiles to hide the fear and instigate security! I AM SECURITY! WATASHI GA KITA!

As laughter echoed through, I laughed along with it. Loudly. It didn’t sound genuine but it was full of fake confidence like I was hyping myself up to sound like. Although, I was desperately pleading to any and every god out there for things to end already.

_4:12_

“Two more hours to go~” I sang, giving it my all to keep me from diving headfirst into despair. The past few hours had been absolute hell since Chica and Bonnie had upped the tempo of their visits and they were making me have to react quicker in order to ensure my safety. I didn’t have another incident where they talked to me again, but I did have a moment of genuine terror when Bonnie had actually begun entering my office.

Literally forty minutes ago a large purple hand came around the doorframe and the only reason I noticed it was because of the male in my head screaming at me to look at the door.

At least that handles he’s guiding me through this.  
The others are doing their part, but one seems intent on distracting me with stupid questions.  
Is she hostile, does she actually want me to die? Then why is she in my mind with two who seemingly want me to survive…

Anyway, in panic, my body reacted before my mind did and I full force punched the hand in hopes of driving it away. Luckily, despite being practically made of metal or something, it actually flinched away and I managed to shut the door before they could recover. The same could be said for me though, because I clutched my hand and let out a strangled scream of pain as my hand pulsated with pain. In order to remedy it, I wrapped my still damp clothing around the hand in hopes of cooling it down so it doesn’t swell – my clothes were still wet but the fan had helped in decreasing the amount they were wet by a surprisingly large amount.

Obviously, my act of self-defence didn’t sit well with the bunny because, ever since then, they had been more persistent and quicker. Foregoing all stealth in hopes of catching me out, which was scarily working since the animatronic had caught me off guard multiple times, my reactions being just about enough to ensure my life was safe.

Although now there was a lull in the action which I was grateful for as it gave me a chance to recuperate.

_“Da da dum de dum dum…”_

A song echoed throughout the building. That was clearly a sign to check the cameras again.

Damn, am I glad I did.

The second camera I checked was Pirate’s Cove and, like it had said this morning, the sign was saying “It’s Me” instead of being out of order. I didn’t even have the chance to ponder this. The rush of footsteps, lighter and much faster than Bonnie’s, which was saying a lot, made its way to my ears and it took barely milliseconds before I lunged for the door, watching it slam just in time as the running stopped just shy of the door closing. Three bangs rang out, causing me to take a step back with a frown as my mind conjured up the idea that it was entirely possible for them to break it down with enough force.

Surely that wasn’t the case?  
People would die!  
**_~~People have died!~~_**

My hands slammed against my head at the sudden crash of voices that abused my conscious. That was the first time I’ve heard all of them say the same thing simultaneously, I think.  
The chorus of different tones; one childish anger, one sadness and the other an eerie calmness. They were all loud in their own right, practically screaming it in my mind.

But I couldn’t help the discomforting question that came to mind quickly.  
Were we even talking about the same thing?  
Did they mean people have died in this job?  
Does that mean these guys appear in the minds of people who take the job?  
Was taking this job a mistake then?  
Would I still be living a peaceful life at home if I hadn’t?  
Alone…With no one to speak to me? Even if they are just voices…  
would I be happy with that…

Chills ran down my spine and a frown overtook my features as I finally opened the door again, one hand massaging my temple, only to have to hurriedly close it again when I was practically face to face with the hulking figure that was Bonnie.

The gentle humming soothed my fast beating heart and I let out a sigh of relief, flopping back into the chair to rub my face and continue thinking.

No, I wouldn’t be happy with that now that I’ve got these guys.  
I’m being haunted by voices.  
Voices that came from the pizzeria.  
The pizzeria is haunted.  
The animatronics are haunted.  
I’ve done something to upset some spirits and the ones in my head, at least two of them, are trying to ensure I don’t die.  
Or rather they’re keeping me alive to do something for their sakes?  
There’s still too much I don’t know though and I don’t like that.

I bit my lip as I brushed through the cameras again. Even though the conclusion I had come to seemed plausible, if this was a movie or something, it was still kind of hard to believe. One; I had no proof, and two; it’s very likely that it’s just my paranoia getting to me and causing my brain to go into overdrive to figure out what’s going on. At least I’m not alone in this, right? Even if they don’t exactly communicate when or how I want them to, at least I don’t feel so alon-

Wait. Thinking back, closing the door on Chica while doing so, to when Bonnie spoke to me – I grimace –and they all referred to the animatronic differently, the things they called her. Surely that means that they oppose each other in there?

Yet the two most contrasting ones are both working in tandem to help me survive or at least keep me calm enough to not burst out in panic and the other is out to try and get me screwed over – which makes sense I guess since she called them her friends and naturally you’d want to help your frien…Wait then that begs the question again of why is she in my mind along with the other three.

Is it like a package deal?  
But thinking back on it and each time I’ve heard them…   
They’ve constantly spoken over each other.  
They never respond or talk to each other.  
In fact, pulling at strings here a bit to form an idea…  
It’s almost like they’re unaware of each other’s presence?

Does that mean that the voices in my head don’t know they’re not alone?

_5:30_

Call me crazy but I swear all the animatronics are grinning or smirking at me. Apart from Freddy, the rest of them were looking directly at the camera as if they were taunting me. Did they realise I didn’t have much power and are planning a full-on assault?

My battery was at 13% and I had another half an hour to survive. My chance at survival was dropping to a seriously low percentage as well. I could only sigh as took a look at Foxy again, before glaring at the phone “And you said the first night was a breeze” I muttered bitterly, remember part of the phone call which had gave me some relief at the time.

The deep laugh from before bounced around the building.

Again, somewhat used to this now given just how much less I was panicking and freaking out, I took the audio as a cue to check around the building for movement. When I had gone through all the cameras, I had relaxed as I thought nothing had happened.

Well, at least until I realised I neglected the show stage.  
Now of course I was doubtful, since Freddy had yet to do anything of note tonight but the gears in my head began grinding.

Bonnie and Chica make no noise to signal movement.  
Foxy has his little hum.  
Freddy. The laugh earlier didn’t do anything but, now that I think about, the only animatronic with a voice deep enough to create something akin to that laugh is Freddy.

My hands reacted quickly, darting out to switch on the camera screen trained on the stage. Or should I say the now empty stage.

“Oh God Damn it!” I cried as I frantically began my search for the bear, my panic only increasing when I struggle to find him after several sweeps. My heart drops to my stomach as I look at the doors, slamming them shut almost instantly because if Freddy was outside then I had no time to hesitate. But when I switched on the lights I couldn’t see a shadow or the shape of him anywhere. Unless he was pressed right against the door.

My power bar was in the red and the percentage dropped abruptly by two, causing me to clench my fist- Wait.

Those two white dots.  
Frowning, I pressed open the doors again because of my power and then put my focus on the restroom I was looking at. In the lady’s room, there were two little white dots not unlike the ones I had seen earlier in the day. I had found Freddy.

So now it was now a matter of waiting to figure out his pattern.

_5:53_

Freddy’s pattern was a mess. It’s a mess. My life is a mess.  
Keeping track of two little dots is hard.

Reaching over the desk, I unplugged the fan, the buzz stopping as it stopped blowing air in my general direction. I had barely any power left last time I checked and I didn’t want to check again in case that triggered it to shut down.

Deciding to be smart, I had got under the desk and curled brought my knees to my chest again. Balling up to try and make myself as small as possible. I was barely breathing because I was trying to keep quiet but the pounding of my heart made it difficult since it was being much louder than I was comfortable with.

The door to my right was shut and while Bonnie could come and get me from the left, the threat on the right was much larger since I was sure that it was there. By ‘it’ I mean Freddy. Last I checked he was just staring up at the camera and someone was telling me he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon.

“Hey, nice girl…Could you hum that song for me again?” I whispered quietly, choking back a sob by raising my hand to my mouth.

Silence.  
Even the voices had left me.  
Surely that means I’m dead no matter what.

I shut my eyes tightly, biting my hand to stop myself from making any noise when the nice girl’s voice filled my mind. It drowned out everything else. I focused solely on that song.

Ignoring the stinging sensation in my eyes.  
Ignoring the wetness now trailing down my cheeks.  
Ignoring the fact that I was now shrouded in darkness.  
Ignoring. Ignoring. Just ignoring everything around me.

The humming was all I needed.  
All I wanted.

Another song was playing distantly, accompanied by heavy steps that were getting closer.

Ignore it.

They stopped.  
The sound of wheels scratching against the ground was brief, before silence.  
A loud crash against the wall.  
Just ignore it.  
My body was shaking violently.  
All I wanted?  
Yeah right…  
I wanted to live.  
I need to live.

A scream left my body as my ankle was suddenly being crushed, tears forming faster and being flung from my eyes as I shook my head.

The humming wasn’t getting any louder.

My back hit the ground as my leg was yanked forcefully forward.   
I grit my teeth.

IGNORE IT

Ignore the fact you’re about to die.  
I was silent, tears still streaming.  
Ignore the fact you’re seventeen and about to die.  
I was being dragged somewhere. The crushing grip still on my ankle.  
Ignore your arms trying to claw the ground and creating a retched screeching sound.  
Ignore the child laughing. Ignore the man cursing. Just listen to the song.  


Ignore everything…  
Ignore it…  
Ignore…  
everything stopped.  
a bell?  
an intense burst of pain  
my consciousness went with it

i just wanted to live a bit longer…

 

 

 

 

 XXXXXXXXX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soft.

That’s the first thing that came to mind as my senses began to reactivate. My head was on something soft, with the scent of vanilla around it. My mouth felt dry. I couldn’t see but that’s probably because my eyes felt heavy and I didn’t have the energy to do anything.

There was something wet being wiped against my face, a tissue wipe of some sort I think.  
Why am I being wiped with a tissue?  
**Survivor!** ~~glad to hear~~ **  
**         ~~you’re awake~~       **Welcome back**  
            why didn’t you die…

The memories of last night suddenly came flooding back.  
My body violently shuddered as the emotions assaulted me.  
Whatever I was on shifted and I felt something cradle my head, bringing it closer to itself.  
It was warm.

Why didn’t I die?  
The child sounded genuinely upset and confused.  
I didn’t like that, for several reasons.

But I couldn’t help but echo its question – why hadn’t I died?  
I am still alive right?

My hearing finally began clearing up and I could hear muffled voices, one female and the other male.

“Look at him! That isn’t normal and it’s not right, especially for a kid!”  The male said loudly. I couldn’t tell if he was yelling.

“I know, I realise that! Don’t you think I regret this now?” The female said, clearly hurt. She was also a lot closer to me, right next to me in fact “God I’m such an idiot…”

“So, what are you going to do about it? There’s no way he’s going to continue working here” My fists clenched slightly as I recognised the voices. Mike and Jade. Do they not realise I’m awake?

And who was Mike to assume what I would do?

“That’s up to him, Mike. I won’t force him to stay but I’ll have to persuade him not to tell anyone about this…” Jade whispered solemnly.

“Persuade him? Don’t you mean, manipulate him? Deceive him? Trick him into believing some false story or lie?” Mike shot back bitterly, I could feel the anger rising in his voice. Is he angry about this being done to me?

**No**

I couldn’t stop myself from agreeing as I ran through the facts in my head. Mike had worked here before he said, which meant he’d been through what I’d been through and knew what was going to happen. But now he’s angry and it’s hard to tell whether it’s about me being put through this, him being angry at himself for not speaking when he could or if he’s angry at Jade for doing the same thing to him previously and him not realising it.

“For the greater good?” Mike asked. I must have missed a part of the conversation with my thinking “How is treating people like they’re just things for you to use and throw away for the greater good?” He practically screamed at her.

“Sometimes to do some good you’ve got to be the bad guy” She muttered, her hand brushing against my forehead as she began playing with my hair “At least that’s what I’ve been told…”

There was silence for a moment. I could still feel Jade’s gaze on me, her attention seemed to be entirely on playing with my hair which was making me sleepy. A moan left my mouth because I didn’t want to fall asleep. I wanted to speak with these two. I needed to.

Jade’s hand paused for a second, before slowly continuing with an even gentler touch. Unintentionally, I was leaning into the touch and therefore more into her body. “He’s waking up…” She stated. Mike said nothing, instead I heard a lot of shuffling around “Mike?”

“I don’t want to be around when you’re ‘persuading’ him” He put a lot of emphasis on persuading “Tell the kid I’m sorry I didn’t warn him when I could and that I hope he finds a better job when he quits” He continued.

“Wha- Where are you going?” Jade called out.

“Home. I’ll be back when my shift actually starts” And, with fading steps, I assumed Mike had left. Funnily enough, it was at this point I realised I could’ve opened my eyes ages ago. I think it was just because I didn’t want to interrupt.

Jade sighed, her attention going back to me “He’s such an actor during the day with everyone else…” She said quietly, almost as if there were other people around her that she didn’t want hearing “He’s lucky I’m nice enough not to fire him whenever he thinks he can speak to me like that” My opinion on Jade was still shaky and this wasn’t doing her any favours.

“At least I would think that if he wasn’t right with what he says…” She finished. Okay, my opinion of her just shot up quite a bit now. I know I’m easily swayed but I can’t help it, I look for the good in people. However, good or not, it doesn’t change the fact that she did basically leave me for dead. Something I should be more traumatised about than I am considering I thought I was going to die, what I think was, only a little while ago.

Deciding I finally had the energy to get up, I opened my eyes and met Jade’s own emerald green eyes staring back at me, slightly glossed over, as they widened in surprise. Her body froze as we stared at each other, I didn’t do anything because reality just hit me and I registered the fact I was laying on a girl’s lap.

Scratch that, a woman’s lap.

“You awake now?” She said gently, as if I was a child just waking up from a nap. Were it not close to the truth, I would be somewhat offended. I let out a hum of agreement. The voices were quiet, surprisingly, as usually in Jade’s presence they’d be saying things along the lines of not trusting her. Jade smiled at me, a real smile “Good”

“What happened?” I croaked, the dryness in my throat intensifying as the need for a drink caused me to cough after speaking.

Had I been screaming?  
My throat felt hoarse…

Jade had yet to stop playing with my hair but she did lower her hand and brought my head back down to her legs rather than pressing me against her stomach.

“You survived…I hadn’t expected you to” Her brutal honesty hurt me and I could only glare at her as she let out a weak laugh “But part of me hoped you would. Having been the cause of a seventeen-year-old kid dying would probably weigh on my conscious too much…” She murmured to herself, momentarily forgetting I was there, before taking out her phone and looking at it.

“I thought I was dead…” I whispered, an ache running around my ankle which caused me to try and move it only to let out a small shout of pain.

“Ah, don’t. When we found you, Freddy had a tight grip on your ankle and you had passed out. I think he dragged you all the way to the stage before-”

“The stage?” I interrupted, confused as to why I’d get taken there.

“Protocol. At six, all the animatronics return to stage, I just don’t think it affects their top halves so he dragged you up all the way up there since there was nothing to make him remove his hand. Mike and I had to practically pry you free” Jade’s head looked up and I followed her line of sight to the stage. All the animatronics were there again, as if nothing had ever happened.

“I see…” I coughed again, still needing a drink. Jade looked back down at me, a tender smile on her face as she ran her hands through my hair.

“You did great Nero…” Her praise filled me with some happiness yet I don’t know if that was what I should be feeling since she congratulated me on not dying on a job she had given me “I’m sure you have questions and we do need to talk about…” She trailed off. I only nodded.

Jade sighed, before letting her hand fall to rest on my cheek, brushing her thumb against it softly.

If I could blush, I would.

“You reckon you can stand?” She asked. Again, I nodded as I didn’t want to strain my throat any more than I already had “Alright, I’ll help you up, okay?”

At that moment the lights of the room suddenly switched on, causing me to wince as I had to adjust to the sudden brightness invading my vision. Jade was apparently just as surprised as me.

I noticed Jade had her back against a table leg.  
And her hair was down. I was unable to see the full length, but, from what I could see, the front group of strands came down just past her chest – oh that’s probably because she’s leaning over me. She was also wearing the same outfit as yesterday; must be her uniform, I guess.

“Ah!” An exclamation came from the far left, causing our attention to snap over to it.

A girl, looking to be a very similar age to me, was stood there shaking like a leaf with her eyes wide. Both Jade and I were frozen in time, unsure how to react as this newcomer took in the view while also taking in her appearance.

She had a chest to rival Jade’s.

The abrupt scream of laughter and nervous giggling in my mind made me scold myself for noticing that first but, at this distance, there wasn’t much else to note. She was around my height, blonde hair she was wearing a jumper, underneath I assumed was a shirt, a skirt, black knee socks and trainers. Her hair was fashioned in a pony tail pointing out toward the side instead straight behind her, yet she still had many hairs dangling in front of her face.

I just utterly contradicted myself by saying there’s nothing to note.  
Still, she’s adorable from what I could make out here.

“Perverts”

Silence.

“Eh?” Both Jade and I let out simultaneously.

The blonde’s hand raised, her shaking now stopped but her eyes were shadowed over, casting a dark look on her face which caused both Jade and I to tense up. An accusatory finger was pointed at us as the blonde repeated the words again, her head tilting up to reveal the disgust on her face.

“Perverts”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, really sorry about how late this is. Meant to upload earlier but legit just passed out on my bed while proof reading and making sure is good. As compensation, you'll get chapter three within an hour.


	3. The Game Begins

**Nero POV**

“No, no, no, it’s nothing like that!”  Jade exclaimed her hands coming up in and waving around in her panic to deny the accusation. The girl by the door only tilted her head with a scoff.

“Haah? Then please do inform me as to what it is” The blonde said as she moved toward us, the bag on her back rustling as she did. Wanting to clear this misunderstanding as soon as possible, I shifted my legs slightly so my feet were flat against the ground and began to push up in order to try and get up.

Keyword: try.

The moment I put weight on my left foot I couldn’t stop the cry of pain that left my mouth, my head dropping not at all gently back on to Jade’s thighs and legs splaying out again as I bit my lip to bear the pain.

Right.  
I hadn’t been able to properly register it earlier, but Freddy had yanked me out of my hiding spot and my ankle practically blew up with pain. That must have been when he grabbed me and started dragging me to my doom.

I really almost died…

My noise caught the attention of both females who were locked in conversation, one trying to explain the other not accepting it. Involuntary tears sprung to my eyes and I rushed to wipe them away, noticing the extremely worried look on Jade’s face, and gave a shaky grin.

“Can we do something about my foot, maybe?” I ask, my voice still quiet and hoarse.

“Oh my gosh!” Again, our attention was brought to the blonde who dropped her bag on the floor and rushed over quickly and was kneeling over me opposite to Jade “He’s hurt?” she asked with concern.

“Yeah, he accidentally smashed his ankle against a chair earlier when he was trying to do some weird super kick thing” I gave Jade a blank stare that just screamed ‘The hell is that?’ but she either didn’t notice or was ignoring me.

“Is that so…And this position?” The blonde questioned, eyeing us suspiciously as her gaze lingered on me for a moment.

“He was being overdramatic with the fall and knocked his head against a table, he blacked out for a few minutes so I laid him down to recover” She lied smoothly. So smooth that it scared me just how convinced I was that she was telling the truth despite being the subject. The blonde stared at Jade for a moment, before looking down at me with a raised eyebrow.

Gulping, I nodded in confirmation of her story, taking a hand to rub my forehead sheepishly as an awkward chuckle left my mouth “Yep, I’m such an idiot…” I burst into a slight fit of coughing due to using my voice a little too much. The blonde girl studied me further, her face coming right into mine which caused me severe discomfort as her eyes bore into mine.

Our noses were practically touching.  
I could feel her breath on my face.  
There was a small beauty spot just next to her left eye.  
Oh my god, she’s more than adorable – she’s gorgeous!

“Alright, if you say so” She said, her voice soft and agreeing as she pulled away, but her expression showed she seriously didn’t believe us one bit “I guess the first thing to do is to get you sat up so we can look at the injury, right?”

Slightly taken aback at how quickly she moved on, Jade stuttered a bit before composing herself “That’s right…Sorry, wait, who are you and why exactly are you here this early?” Jade cut herself off from continuing, realising that she had no idea who the girl was in front of her.

“I could ask you both the same thing, how did you break in here? The door was unlocked and ,as far as I’m aware, only the manager and the head janitor have the key to open it up” She shot back, hostility in her voice.

Does she not realise that this is the manager right here?

“You make it sound as if you work here, how come I’ve never seen you before?”

“I work late nights, janitor team. Now don’t avoid my question, who are you otherwise I’ll call the police!” At the threat, Jade’s eyes narrowed and the two began an intense glare off.

I feel so awkward right now, they’ve completely forgotten about me.

Jade reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out something shiny “I am the manager” She stated with finality and a slight growl to her voice.

“Wha…” The blonde’s mouth hung open.

Her eyes met mine.  
A sudden glint appeared in them.  
Her arm shifted.

“Now why are you here or else I may just have-”

“GAH” A sharp pain struck my leg, like something being jabbed into it, causing me to yell out before gripping it tightly.

“Ah, Nero!” Jade exclaimed, seemingly remembering I was still there, before looking around rapidly, arms waving around in panic. She was flustered. “Sorry, I’ll go get an ice pack from the kitchen, okay?” She said, all her focus now on me as I gave a weak nod. The blonde let out a quiet breath and I could only glare at her as she used me as an escape from her situation.

“What should I do for him, boss lady?” The blonde asked, her concern and worry coming back onto her face. Obviously, I took priority in this situation in Jade’s eyes, because she seemingly completely forgot the drama that just happened and instead instructed the girl to help me sit up on a chair while she got the icepack and a glass of water.

So now I found myself alone with the blonde girl, watching as Jade rushed over to the kitchen doors and pushed them open. Once closed, our eyes turned to each other and again I glared at her and asked “Was that really needed?”

“Ha, yeah, sorry about that” She said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly before grabbing my hands which made me stiffen up because I didn’t know what she was planning to do “I just sort of panicked since I didn’t want to give a stupid reason for coming in after acting the way I did”

“Oh?” I let out a weak noise of interest as she stood up, still grasping my hands, and stepped over me while still facing me. My back was raised off the ground slightly as I was laying between her legs, her head tilted up in thought.

“Well, yeah, basically I’m pretty forgetful and actually forgot my phone in the parts room and realised this morning when I couldn’t find it. So, I just rushed here really in hopes that the manager or someone would be here to open it up for me…” As she told her story she seemingly completely forgot what she was meant to be doing because she began lowering herself down, still holding onto my hands.

Also, I guess that solves the mystery of the missing phone!  
Woohoo!  
But now onto more pressing matters…

“Um, hey…Hey! Yo-you’re kind of” I stuttered, blurting out words because my mind was slowly dissolving into mush at what was occurring.

A girl was about to sit on my lap.  
And she isn’t even realising it!  
Help me!  
No, don’t help me!  
I’m seriously conflicted about what to do here!

“I’ve only seen the manager once and that was when I first came here ages ago, so I couldn’t really remember what she looked like. I guess I should’ve realised earlier, I mean who would really break into a kid’s restaurant?” She continued speaking on although it began to feel like she was speaking less to me and more to herself.

I tensed.  
She was now squatting, sat down with her knees up, level with her chest in front of her and on either side of my body, on my lap, just above my waist, my arms limp in her hold and her grip loosening slightly.  
I couldn’t help but be acutely aware of how she was positioned, every small shift she made I could feel and lord was it making me uncomfortable.

“Still, when I saw you two like that my mind just sort of shutdown because I wasn’t prepared to see something like that so I just sort of came to the first logical conclusion in my mind and just went with it…” It was at this point that what she was saying became incomprehensible as she let go of my left hand and instead brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit on the nail, muttering to herself the whole time.

While I would like to be rescued from this position, I didn’t want Jade to come back because then I’m sure it would land this girl in more trouble and I don’t want that since the first thing was just an honest misunderstanding which escalated because neither woman wanted to back down.

“So yeah!” She leant forward, hands coming beside my head, her face close to mine with a cheeky grin present on her lips “When it got to the big reveal, I didn’t want to imply how I acted was justified because I forgot my phone nor that it was the cause of all that so I just sort of used you to change topic and hey, it worked!” She said, her grin turning into a full-blown smile, her eyes closing as she put her teeth on display.

Her hair was tickling my ear slightly.

“H-Hnnn…”I let out a small hum of agreement, my discomfort coming through clearly because her eyes widened and I let out a small sigh of relief mixed with disappointment when she leant back to sit straight up. Yet, to my surprise, she didn’t seem embarrassed at all, in fact her face was morphed more into a sort of ‘Oh right, I forgot!’ one as her right hand formed into a fist and she smacked it into her other now free hand.

Her hips wiggled a bit.   
She was grinding slightly against me with her movements.  
She was a ball of energy.  
Now she’s bouncing up and down ever so slightly in eagerness.  
Oh god.  
What was she going to do?

“Ah, right I’m meant to be helping you get up and sat down on a chair, aren’t I?” Her eyes focused on me again, before she grabbed my hands again and stood up “On three, I’m going to pull you up okay?”

I stared blankly up at her for a moment.  
Did she not have any idea of what she was just doing?  
No idea of the stress she was just causing me?  
No idea about how she just aggressively disappointed me, even if I don’t want to admit it?

“Which foot is it which hurts?” She asked, looking back at my feet briefly, before readjusting her grip.

“Left” I said, licking my lips as they had begun to feel dry.

“Okay, on three? One, two…Three!” She heaved up and forward, bringing me up faster than I expected but I managed to put my right foot down quickly enough to push me up further into a standing position. However, since I was avoiding putting my left foot down at all, I ended up having to lean into the girl because I couldn’t stop my momentum with just my right foot.

“Nice one!” She cheered, a smile on her face before she brought me to her side and slung an arm of my shoulder. Instinctively, my arm went around her waist and I began using her as my support “Alright, let’s just sit you down here…” She said as she guided us toward the chair tucked into the table we were next to, pulling it out and easing me into it.

I won’t lie, my foot wasn’t exactly killing me anymore. It was more like a dull ache than anything right now but I didn’t want to risk putting weight on it in case it caused me pain or aggravated my foot further. Looking around, I was disappointed not to find a cushion or pillow anywhere so I instead just settled for raising my foot onto the chair next to me with a slight groan.

Now we wait.

…

The soft humming that had been a source of comfort for me last night started up in my head. Was I tense?  
From what I could tell, she only started up in stressful situations in order to calm me down but I feel really tired right now so I’ve got to be somewhat relaxed, right?  
Unless it’s what happened just a few seconds ago making me…  
Nah, probably not.

“You seem tense” Blondie said, observing me as she grabbed a seat from the table beside us and placed it right next to my foot. A small pout appeared on her face while sitting down “Am I really making you uncomfortable?” She teased - yet, the teasing didn’t really appear in her eyes and the way her body slumped slightly told me she genuinely thought she might have been.

“It’s not you!” I blurted out quickly, straining my voice in my rush to correct another misunderstanding before it happens.

“Oh, good!” She visibly perks up, her smile reaching her eyes “Was worried for a second” she finished, wiping her hand across her forehead as if she was sweating and letting out a massive relieved sigh. Her grin was surprisingly infectious as I found myself sending a small amused smile at her antics, only to stiffen up again when she turned her attention to my leg and rolled up my jeans “But like I said, you are really tense…”

I felt my body relax again but given the fact she didn’t point that out, I assume it didn’t look as if I had. My mind began to race as I tried to figure out why I’d still be tense even after all the danger was over and…

Oh.  
The danger was over.

“So, mind telling me why that’s the case?” She said softly, her hands moving to my leg and pressing in gently, causing me to let out a little wince, before she began rubbing and running her palms across my shin. She was being especially gentle just above my sock, which I was grateful for. While caught off guard by her actions, I allowed her to continue since she was clearly acting out of concern and with my best interest at heart.

“I think it’s because of everything that happened today and yesterday…” I quietly said, my eyes looking down to my lap. The woman now giving my shin and calf a massage let out a noise of acknowledgement which I took as a sign to explain “Yesterday a lot happened when I came here and I was pretty terrified by it when I came home, my body wouldn’t stop shaking and I ended up crashing onto my bed for a while just trying to recover from my fear”

“Must have been pretty bad…” She whistled. Her tongue was sticking out slightly as she pressed deeper into my calf, her brows furrowing down. I couldn’t help but think the sight was cute. Her eyes flitted to mine briefly, before looking back at my leg “You’re the guy that got called on stage, right?”

“How do you know about that?” My voice cracked during my exclamation, forcing me to struggle to clear my throat afterwards. Blonde girl shrugged casually, a small smile on her face.

“Rumours spread fast within the work force, the janitors are the best at gossiping after all and I couldn’t help but overhear some of them discussing it” She said it so casually, as if it was something normal but I couldn’t but think along the lines of ‘isn’t gossiping not allowed in the work place’

“Ah” I let out lamely “I see…”

“Mhmm” She hummed, rolling her shoulders for a moment, before continuing wither her massage.

“I recovered, though, as you can see!” We laughed slightly at that, before I continued my tale “Only for tonight to happen and just…It was surprising, well not really since I was kind of expecting it may happen anyway, but I don’t think my body was really ready for it” I explained, piecing together my words as I went “So I guess I began to run on adrenaline due to the panic and fear I was feeling since I was literally fighting for my life” I cut myself off abruptly, snapping my head up to the blonde who was continuing on as if I hadn’t said anything weird “You know about the…?”

“Duh” She said with a slightly bitter laugh “When you work late nights you find out one way or another, plus there’s the rumours I mentioned” She squeezed a part of my calf, causing me slight pain, but she quickly rubbed her hands over it to soothe it “So, I guess tonight was your first time being the night guard?”

“Yeah…”

“Huh…Was wondering why you were here, but I didn’t want to seem rude, well ruder” She finished with a small giggle to herself. Yet she looked saddened at the same time. Concern caused me to frown, before going back to my story.

“Like I said, I ended up running purely on adrenaline for a while before I calmed down since I got used to the work and the danger over time, there were still a few high-octane moments though” I paused for a breath, my body rattled a bit but that was due to the cold because I’m still wearing damp clothes “Right at the end though, I thought I was dead and everything just kind of went numb in the moment but the terror was still there. So, I think now my body is being pre-emptive and I can’t relax in case something similar happens again even though I’m actually exhausted – physically and mentally” I added as an afterthought to put emphasis on the fact I really wasn’t meaning to be this tense.

The blonde girl stopped massaging my leg and looked directly at me “If that’s the case getting you home should be the priority?” She said, the level of seriousness on her face was one I hadn’t seen before nor expected “You’ll be able to relax at home since you won’t be able to see those things, right?” By ‘things’ I guess she meant the animatronics “And keeping your body up this long can’t be good for you, you could literally pass out!” She exclaimed, her worry shining onto me.

I’m touched.  
This pretty stranger is so worried about me…  
Yet I don’t even know her name.

A sigh left my mouth as I gave her a wide smile “I’ll be fine!” I reassured her, but I think my coughing kind of ruined it since she leaned forward to make sure I was okay “I’m good at recovering from bad events!” I stated proudly.

Confusion etched across my face though when she grimaced “You make it sound like you’ve gone through a lot of them...” I attempted to laugh off her comment loudly in hopes of bringing back her humorous and fun side.

Note the fact I said ‘Attempted’.  
But at least it worked since she did giggle slightly, her face relaxing and wide smile coming back.

“A-Anyway” I let out a small cough. Jade sure is taking her time “What’s your name?” I finally asked, seeing as there was now a lull in the conversation.

“Oh, I never introduced myself!” She clapped her hands together in a mix of glee and excitement, bouncing in her seat. Settling into her chair, she brought a fist to her mouth and cleared her throat before opening her eyes “Mercy Queen, member of the janitor team at Freddy’s and budding engineer!”

My eyebrow raised in curiosity at budding engineer “Nice name” I complimented first, a small applause to go with it “I’m Nero, nightguard”. She didn’t seem all too impressed with my simple introduction, if the playful ‘booo’ was anything to go by, but it was all good naturedly as she stuck her hand out for a handshake which I happily met.

“Oh, I’m also the one who’s going to make sure you get home alright”

“Whaua?” My ‘what’ turned into a strangled noise of surprise at her statement.

“You heard me” She winked as she let go, hands falling into her lap “No arguments, I wanna make sure my new bud gets home safe after such a rough first night!” Her eyes shifted slightly to behind me before cutting straight back to me, the smile never leaving her face.

“I’m not quite sure I like the sound of that” Jade’s voice called, prompting me to look back to see her leaving the kitchen with a glass of water in one hand and ice pack in the other “Surely if you came here it must have been because you have a job to do?” She questioned, the question sounding innocent enough but the edge was there.

‘Are you going to slack off on your job?’

Mercy let out a small raspberry, I had to stifle my laughter as Jade placed herself beside me “I only came to pick something up I forgot, I only work late at night with the cleaning crew” Giving a small thank you, I took the water Jade offered me and was quick to gulp it down, when I saw Jade’s eyes narrow when she handed the ice pack over to Mercy and the younger woman’s eyes widen while she took off my shoe and placed the ice pack on my foot – she realised her mistake.

**Idiot** ~~she can help us!~~ **  
   ** ~~you’re happy?~~ **Trust her**

The voices strike again, after not having said anything for an almost concerningly long amount of time apart from nice girl and her humming. Acting fast, I interjected into the conversation before Jade could make the accusation and threat that Mercy had been fearing and trying to avoid “I thought you were an engineer, wouldn’t you come in more times than just at night then to make sure things are okay?”

“She said budding engineer, Nero. She’s not part of the actual engineering team” Jade said, her voice calming down towards the end of the sentence for some reason. Before Mercy could even open her mouth the retort, Jade cut her off “Anyway, if you’re serious about making sure he gets home safe and don’t have a shift right now then would you mind waiting in the reception area?” She looked at me “Nero and I need to have a little chat”

“What? I thought it’d be ice pack then let’s go, not ice pack and then conversate for who knows how long!” Mercy said, surprised as her brows came down into a frown, a small pout on her face.

I think I’m in heaven.  
I died and am surrounded by angels.

“This chat needs to happen I’m afraid, I can’t put it off” Jade was firm, locking eyes with the girl.

“Bu-”

“It’s fine” I cut in once again.

Not going to lie, I felt a little hurt at how easily these two forget I was still there with them.  
But maybe I’m just reaching that conclusion too fast, I mean they only said two sentences.

Mercy shot me a look that screamed betrayal, her hand going to her heart in an overdramatic fashion.  
I couldn’t help the thought she was hiding what she was really thinking behind her theatrics.

“It won’t take too long, I promise” I gave her a thumbs up when she dropped the betrayed look, instead showing her hesitance but only for a moment. With a small nod, Mercy got up from her seat and began heading towards the reception area at the front of the building, shooting a small look back at me while picking up her bag on the way. I could only reassure her with another smile.

As the doors shut, my attention shifted back to Jade who was now fidgeting slightly in her seat. While I more or less had the idea of what this discussion was going to be about, I didn’t exactly know how to start it if Jade wasn’t going to. In fact, seeing as she’s the one who wanted this shouldn’t she be starting it anyway?

“You don’t have to work here anymore” Jade stated bluntly, averting my worries on starting the conversatio-

Wait what?  
What’s that meant to mean?!

“Exactly what I said, I don’t expect you to come here anymore…” Jade continued, as if answering my unspoken question. Wait, did I actually say that out loud?

“Back up, wait” I said, readjusting myself on my seat as my leg was slowly getting pins and needles “You don’t expect me to come anymore, are you firing me?” Confusion ran through my body at two things.

One: Why is she firing me when she had made it clear this job was important and needed to be filled?

Two: Why aren’t I jumping at the chance to be able to forget about this place and not put my life at risk again?

Three voices in my mind silently answered that question, their suddenly noticeable lack of noise making me acutely aware that they were somehow involved with how I felt about the situation.

“I may as well be, you don’t understand just how horrible I feel Nero for forcing this onto you…” Jade said, her voice quiet and soft to the point it was slightly hard to make out clearly what she was saying, but she hardened her voice a stare again as she continued “So, I’m telling you to leave so you won’t have to go through this sort of trauma again”

“But if I leave now, will I get paid?” My abrupt question caused her to pause, shock written across her face, before she narrowed her eyes in confusion. A strategy was forming in my mind while she was speaking on how to try and stop this conversation and leave with my job still intact and her not be able to do anything about it.

Blame the voices.  
I wouldn’t mind leaving.  
But I really feel like I shouldn’t, not yet.

“What?”

Okay, she’s confused which means I’ve defused the tension she had and the guard she put up. Now I just need to follow through “I kind of went for the job because of the money, I don’t have any relation to this place, I don’t know why your animatronics are after me, I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me upfront and I don’t understand a lot of other things” I listed off, watching her reaction to each point I made and was glad to see her only getting more and more confused “But, what I do understand is that by completing five nights, I’ll get the money I signed up for. Unless you’re going to pay that all now?”

“W-Well, I can’t exactly do that since you haven’t done all five nights and we’re tight on money as is so-” She stuttered through her sentence. Now I’m the one controlling the conversation, I can steer it in the direction I want it to go and not have to deal with her objections if I manage to leave quickly enough.

“Well, sorry then I guess I’m not leaving. You’ve got me for another four nights I suppose” I shrug with an indifference and cockiness that, if you still haven’t realised yet, is a complete act. With all three voices in my mind silently rejecting the idea of losing this job, for reasons I’m yet to and will eventually figure out, and the attachment to two of them that I’ve already formed as well as the need to sate my curiosity, these two things are making me want to comply and try to keep this job no matter what. These voices began when I first saw the animatronics, even if what I saw were just heads, which means they’re linked to the animatronics themselves and that…

The encounter with Bonnie.

If Bonnie can talk, if it can talk with a voice other than the one it’s programmed with then it really isn’t farfetched to say that it’s being haunted as well. Does this mean I have to do something about that before I can leave this place? But what could I possibly do, I’m only a teenager…

Well, regardless, if I can figure out what needs to be done, or at least try to, by completely all five nights then surely something good will happen somehow? Because that’s how the universe works? Do something good and get something good in return? Good Karma, or something, right?

Well, it’s better than just running away because I have no idea about whether or not I’d then be stuck with the voices until I die. But, considering how I am now with them, would that be a bad thing? Or would they behave differently in response to me running away…

No, the only option I have is to stay and figure all this out.  
The best and easiest way to do that is by being an employee.  
This is the only opening they have here.  
Not to mention the best one possible where I have free reign of what I do without anyone to watch me or stop me.  
I’ve already got experience and can handle it relatively decently now, I think, since I’ve been through it once already.

God, I don’t know if my all my reasoning or thought process even makes sense at this point.

All I know is that I need to stay if I want any peace of mind because, while I’d probably deny it now, in future the reasoning behind these animatronics trying to kill me would bother me enough to warrant coming back anyway. Or, there’s even the possibility they’ll hunt me down themselves and that’d be terrifying! Imagine animatronics coming to your house to try and kill you in the dead of the night, sounds like a nightmare.

“B-But…Wait a minute” Her stuttering finally stops as she speaks with clarity and realization “Are you trying to rush this conversation so you can go home?” Unfortunately, it looks like the plan didn’t work, so I allow myself to slump back in my seat and lose the confidence I was displaying in favour of the exhaustion now slowly creeping onto my appearance as my body finally begins recognising that there is no danger to me anymore.

“Just a bit…” I breathed out, a small smile gracing my lips “It’s only because I need to keep this job-”

“For the money” Jade interjected, a flat look on her face.

“Yeah and other reasons which I don’t want to share really…But I just want to- No, I need to stay because I’m worried they’ll be a greater danger if I leave” I mutter the last part, still unsure about it but wanting to mention it.

“What do you mean?” Jade asked, a tone in her voice that I couldn’t recognise but it was something like disbelief and exasperation if I had to compare it to anything.

“Your animatronics are after me and they can move around at night so I’m just sort of worried that they’ll track me down somehow if I’m not here acting as bait for them and that wouldn’t be good” I explained, it was slightly paranoid but I didn’t know to what extent they could move so I felt it was a justified concern.

“I see…”

Wait, should she be saying something along the lines of ‘Oh, don’t be silly, how on earth could they leave the restaurant?’ or something like that?!

“You might die you know” She says after a few moments of silence. I shift my left foot, glad to find that most of the pain is gone now and, due to the conversations, that I had been engaged in and the interactions I’d had my mind was now mostly awake. My body still felt heavy and really tired but I guess unless I start running around or something to wake up the muscles and all, nothing can be done.

“I could’ve died tonight on my way here. Didn’t stop me from coming” I replied softly, with the intention of easing her worries but it backfired since she only flinched and looked guiltier “That reminds me, why couldn’t you have told me the specifics of the job when I was here in the morning or on the phone?”

“Company policy” She states with a finality that demands no questions.

Okay.

“Okay” Is all I say. We lapse back into a somewhat uncomfortable silence.

“Was it that bad? Typically, the guards who stay past the first night say it wasn’t that bad but looking at you, I somehow doubt you were just panicking a lot” She asked, curiosity mixed within her tone.

“I guess everything is different for me then because there’s no way that was ‘not that bad’” A small yawn threatens to escape my mouth, but I hold it in “But I’ve been through it once, so the next time shouldn’t be as bad – at least that’s how it usually is for me”

“You know, you’re implying that when bad things happen to you, you go through them again and again until you’re fine…” She states, her bluntness fusing with her worry. Chuckles escape my lip because Mercy had reacted in a similar fashion when I said something similar to her.

“I’ve kind of missed this…” I muse quietly to myself, letting my leg rest a little longer before I get up.

“Missed what?” Jade questions. Apparently, I wasn’t quiet enough for her not to hear me.

“Talking to people, ah, don’t get me wrong I’m not some sort of loner or creep or anything” I quickly fixed my sentence upon seeing the pitying look she was giving me “It’s just that, I only moved here a few weeks ago and haven’t really gone out to talk meet new people, too shy to just go up to random people like ‘ Hi, let’s be pals!’ so I’ve just kind of been on my own” My voice sounded sadder than I meant it to be.

That’s why I was so accepting of the voices.  
I hate being alone but I don’t do anything about it except ignore and bear it.  
So when they started talking to me I subconsciously realised that I wasn’t exactly so alone anymore, so I latched back on to them, like they did me, as a way of dealing with being alone.  
I questioned it a lot, sure, but notice how easily I talked back to them yesterday night just after waking up.  
Second nature, interacting with people is for me.

“Talking to people is really what energizes me and keeps me going since I usually find myself laughing around them or trying to make them laugh and smile which makes me happy in turn…You can only go on trying to keep yourself happy by yourself for so long before you start to realise just how alone you are…It actually explains a lot, now that I think about it” I muttered the last part to myself as I think back to how easily I broke down yesterday or just how cheerful I was despite breaking down when I woke up and was talking to the voices and why I was now so at ease despite everything that had happened.

The power of friendship triumphs over all apparently!  
See, genuine cheer had returned to my life thanks to these two kind women – one and her absolutely inconvenient timing and initial rudeness and the other with her care and guilt! Oh, and I guess it’s also because of this stupid haunted seeming ass Pizzeria!

Damn, I actually feel really happy now…

“I’m so sorry…” Jade says, her hands at her mouth and eyes trained on the floor “I had no idea…You had just moved here and I almost killed you and you’re all alone and…” She trailed off, her body rocking back and forth slightly causing me some concern, before she abruptly snapped her head up and fixed me with a determined look “Alright! From now on, I’ll support you no matter what!”

“Eh?”

“You heard me! You can rely on me should you need anything, related or unrelated to work, okay?” Her eyes were shining and were practically begging me to agree to her terms “Please, at least let me do this as an apology for lying to you and putting you in this situation”

I was still hesitant, but I couldn’t find it within myself to say no. So, putting my leg on the ground from the chair, putting a bit of weight on it in a shaky attempt to stand up and actually managing to stand up, I sent a smile her way “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind then”

“Alright…Take care then, Nero. I’ll see you tonight, half eleven so I can talk you through things properly, okay?” A sweet smile appeared on her face, with tints of relief on it, as she waved goodbye.

“Okay, no problem, bye” I said, waving in response before making my way to the reception where Mercy should be waiting for me still. My eyes drifted toward the stage as I went. The eyes of the animatronics met mine, following me to the door. While I’d love to say it’s just my imagination, I couldn’t help but doubt that.

Opening the door, I could see the girl sat meters in front of me on one of the sofas in front of the window, scrolling through her phone obviously bored. Although, she did perk up when she noticed me, getting up with a bounce in her step and large smile “You look peppy all of a suddenly” She commented, falling into step beside me while leaning forward to look directly at me.

“Yeah, I kind of owe it to you and Jade” Her confusion was made known with the small ‘eh?’ she let out “Don’t worry, just know I’m glad you came when you did” I didn’t explain but instead shutdown the topic with a smile as we left the building.

“Huh…Okay” Luckily, she was willing to go along with it. The sun was up with grey clouds scattered around the sky, remains of the thunderstorm that was present last night along with the wet ground and oddly relaxing fresh rain smell “I’m still escorting you home by the way, don’t think I haven’t noticed the fact you’re still really tired and how you’re walking pretty gingerly on that bad foot of yours”

Oh, I had actually forgot about that.

“You were actually being serious, really?” She nodded in response, following me blindly into the car park in order to get my bike – though I guess she didn’t know that’s what I was doing.

“Yup! While your mood may have improved, your body is still tired so I’m going to make sure you get home safe and fall asleep on your bed comfortably!” She declared, puffing out her chest in determination. My eyes couldn’t help but follow the bouncing movement “By the way, why are we in the car park, you have a car?” She asked, as if finally realising where we were.

“Bike, actually, that one there” I pointed over to my motorbike which was still slick with rain annoyingly enough. Her eyes zeroed in on it and she sent me a look of disbelief.

“Nero, where’s your helmet?”  She asked. It was a simple question yet it got me sweating.

“Home. I was late last night and got out here in a hurry” I explained, slightly nervous because she didn’t look all that impressed. Her arms crossed in front of her bust and she fixed me with a glare.

“We’re walking”

What?

“What!?” I could hear the male in my head cackling away again, even the innocent nice girl was giggling at my misfortune.

“You heard me. No helmet, sleepy boy, dangerous road that’s also wet? Big no no on riding your bike mister” She was wagging her finger left to right like I was a child. I frowned at her, ready to shoot back a retort but she cut me off “No buts! We’re walking, whether you like it or not, mister!”

She really didn’t want to back down.

Since I didn’t really want to test the patience of my new friend, I simply sighed and complied with her order, unlocking the bike and putting the chain under the seat, before wheeling it over to her side where she winked while smiling cheekily at me, a small giggle escaping her afterwards as she turned to face front.

Should she really be this comfortable with me though?

This thought plagues me for a while as we begin walking together in the direction of my house. With my bike, foot and fatigue, we’re moving at a slow pace but if Mercy had an issue with it she had yet to say anything. In fact, she seemed to not mind as she began to energetically talk to me about random things, from my favourite colour to what her day was like yesterday. Of course, I listened interestedly, replying when needed to, and was thankful for her presence because if it was just me riding home with my thoughts then they probably would’ve gone back to the pizzeria and thought ahead about tonight.

It’s not like I was thankful as well because she was very physical and clingy with me, constantly bumping against me, squeezing my arm to emphasise a point and even poking my sides at some points to try and shock me. Those definitely weren’t things I was focusing on or even things I was internally screaming about because should practical strangers really be this physical with each other?

I didn’t care, I really didn’t.  
But it still kind of bothered me.  
Ahhh, conflicting feelings are hard!

 “So how far do you live exactly?” She asked after quite some time had passed, nudging her shoulder against mine in friendly gesture. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure how long it’d take to get home walking on foot, at least not in my mind. Bringing out my phone, I unlocked it and went to the maps app to figure out how much longer we had to go – I was just going in the general direction I usually come from so, to be honest, I was kind of praying that we hadn’t missed a turn at some point.

“Oh, we still have about twenty, twenty-five minutes to go” I told her, putting my phone away, as I looked back at her.

“Whaaat?” She groaned, body slouching forward and her arms hanging limply as her head dropped as well “Really?” I nodded, only for her groaning to intensify while standing straig- no, while leaning back now. I was feeling slightly bad for her now, since she was going out of her way to do this but it was probably going to take a lot longer than she expected – by foot, I mean.

“You don’t have to go all the wa-”

“Nope. It just looks like we’re going to have to ride after all” She muttered the latter half of her sentence with some bitterness, clearly she wasn’t happy at all with the idea of me riding the bike.

“You sure? I have no objections but I’m guessing you’ll be a passenger and that means you’ll be at risk too” I explain, worry seeping in towards the end, but she waves off my concerns with a smile.

“Nah, I’ll just squeeze you regularly to make sure you’re wide awake!” She grinned. Not exactly what I was worried about but okay. Grabbing the bike, she wasted little time in guiding it, along with me, closer to the road side. Swiftly, she sat on the back of the seat, bouncing up and down on it while patting the space in front of her “Let’s go!” The sparkles in her eyes were yelling she was excited.

Guess she really wanted to ride in the end, even if she was so against it at first.

With a small sigh and smile, I followed her onto the bike and started up the engine. It was all well and dandy until I felt arms wrap around my stomach and something squishy press against my back, causing me to involuntarily tense up “It’s just me~” Mercy cooed beside my ear, her soft laughter actually pretty loud considering how close she was.

One deep breath let me relax aga-

She _squeezed_ me.  
Never mind about me trying to calm my hormones down!  
She voluntarily pressed her body against mine!  
All while letting out a laugh that practically screamed she knew all too well what she was doing.

Clearing my throat, I tried to relax again, focusing intently on the road as I twisted my wrist which started us moving. Again, she tightened her grip, letting out a small yelp, and I can only assume it’s because she didn’t expect to be moving so soon without warning. I bit back a laugh, before speeding up a bit more so we’d get there quicker. Like she said, I was still tired, so getting home as quick as possible while I’m still this alert was extremely important.

The journey was a lot shorter than I expected, probably because we’d made a decent dent in the distance with our walking, and we reached my house within just over ten minutes. As I was locking up my bike, Mercy was eyeing up my house curiously as well as looking around the general area with a slight smirk on her face “What’s up?” I asked, stretching out my back as I stood straight up again.

She shook her head with a hum “Nothing really, just finding it funny we live pretty close to each other” That caused my eyebrows to raise in surprise. Passing by her with a small gesture to follow, I brought out my house keys and proceeded to unlock the door.

“Eh, really? That’s neat, I guess” I said, not really sure how to take that fact. She let out another little thoughtful hum, taking a step after me into my home while gazing around. Now that we were here, I couldn’t help but feel slightly on edge, not because of there being any danger or anything but more because…

What if she sees something weird?  
Maybe my taste in decorations will creep her out!  
Will she like the colours of the walls or are the too boring, they are aren’t they!?

It was petty worries like that which were causing me slight mental stress, causing me to completely overlook the fact that there was an actual girl in my house which I had yet to properly clean up after last nights mess. Watching her inspect my front room, then peek into the living room was getting me nervous and I felt like I had to say something “So, what now…?” I asked, not exactly sure where to go from here and wanting to end the silence that had descended.

Mercy laughed abruptly, catching me off guard, as she turned to face me “This is your house, Nero. You’re kind of guiding me here with what to do, I just want to make sure you’re in bed before I leave” She explained, make me want to facepalm at the fact she was completely right “Are there things you normally do before going to bed, get started on that and I’ll find you in your room with milk or something”

“Milk? Seriously?” I sent her a blank look as she nodded happily “I’m not a child you know…” I muttered, eyes going to the ground bashfully when she approached me and stretched out her arm to pat my head. I won’t lie, it felt good.

“You don’t have to be a child to enjoy warm milk before bed, come on” She gently wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me toward the stairs. Even though she was just saying I should lead, she clearly seems to not mind being in charge. With a grin and pat on the back, she let me move up the stairs alone “I’ll be there in a few” She called while heading into the kitchen.

Where there was a burnt dish still in the sink.

Mad laughter rang out, causing me to flinch around to find the source only to realise the laughter was male and coming from my head, as usual. A sigh left my mouth, only to warp into a small smile as I practically dragged myself up the stairs and to my room. Trust him to find the situation funny, I guess.

Actually, wait.   
Come to think of it, I hadn’t even told her which room to come to when she was done.   
Meh, there aren’t that many rooms up here so she’d find me anyway just by looking into them.

Entering my room, I wasted little time in grabbing my towel and plain black pyjamas from my closet then slipped into the shower for a really quick wash down because I was sweaty, my clothes had been stuck to me practically all night and I just wanted something warm against my bare skin – something that’s water not skin contact even though I’d had plenty of that.

Not that I’m complaining!   
I’m grateful!  
But not at the same time…  
It was hard to handle.

Anyway, I’d have to be quick though because I’d hate for Mercy to come upstairs while I’m still in here and then wait for me to be done.

God that’d be awkward

_10 Minutes later_

“Thanks again for this, even though I hadn’t exactly asked for it…” I thanked her for what was probably the third time now as I laid in bed, warm, content and drowsy. The first two were nice, the third was what I was worried about because I tended to get incoherent and struggle to form proper sentences when I was seriously tired and given everything that had happened, my brain was eager to shut down.

“Like I said, it’s fine, honestly” She giggled lightly, placing the cup previously filled with warm milk on my cabinet, beside my charging phone. I had actually gone down to get the charger because I would’ve forgotten otherwise and I’d hate to ask Mercy to get it for me. That didn’t stop her from then shooing me back upstairs quickly. I made sure the alarm was on for tonight again, though set just five minutes earlier, so I wouldn’t oversleep and hopefully would manage to get to work without incident “By the way, what was with the burnt st-”

“So, you just plan to sit there until I fall asleep?” I asked her, cutting off the question before it could be completed. I pointedly ignored her glare at being cut off, the small pout on her lips and slight puff of her cheeks making her appear more adorable than threatening or angry.

“I guess, I mean, I did say I want to make sure you’re resting…” She trailed off, looking around my room and I could only assume she was either admiring or judging me for the posters I had splayed around the room “Leaving when you’re actually asleep seems like the best way to do that” She finished with a smile.

I just let out a relaxed hum, deciding that I may as well let her “Just remember to lock the door and put the key through the post slot”

“Yes Sir!” She saluted, energy perking up as she sat straight up in a manner which genuinely surprised me, before relaxing again with a small giggle. Moments of silence passed by, all I could really hear was the occasional car passing by and my own breathing which was slowing down “So, is this one your favourite, _darling~?_ ”

My eyes widened aggressively.  
I shot up in shock, despite how tired I was getting.  
Actually, bad idea, the sudden movement hurt my head a bit.  
No wait, did she just call me!?

She had a smirk on her face, looking at me with a half-lidded gaze as she leant forward a bit, getting right into my face and I couldn’t help but gulp slightly “The poster behind you, I recognise it” She stated, as if that explained everything – I meant I get that it kind of did.

It was a reference to the character in the poster and her affectionate title for her partner.  
But it didn’t explain why she called me that!  
Is she insinuating something? Is she implying something? I thought she wanted me to go to sleep, why is she making me overthink things?  
OH MY GOD I HAVE SOMEONE I CAN TALK TO ANIME ABOUT!

Before I could stop them, hands were on my shoulders and gently pushing me back down on to my bed. I could only let them as I tried to reign in my confusion and embarrassment, as well as rid my face of the stupidly large grin now on it. Mercy was laughing quietly to herself as she guided me back into my previous position.

“C’mon, darling, you’re meant to be going to sleep” She chided me gently, her teasing smile making it hard to maintain eye contact as I decided to focus intently on the roof. Her hand gently caressed my cheek, causing me to tense slightly, before relaxing into the contact. We stayed like that for a while, her hand simply resting against my face as her thumb rubbed gently against my skin.

Jade did the same thing earlier.  
My cheeks are actually pretty chubby, still having some aspects of my baby face…  
It was so relaxing though.  
So peaceful.  
I could fall asleep right now.  
I wanted to.  
My eyes were shut already and I could feel myself drifting away.  
But in my half-conscious state, my mouth couldn’t help but slip the question that had been plaguing the back of my mind for a while now.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

Her hand froze for a second before continuing with it’s motions. I couldn’t see her face, nor did I want to because that’d mean opening my eyes – something I didn’t want to do for a few reasons. “Because you’re my darling, of course!” She brushes off the question loudly and as energetically as possible. As much as I hate to admit it, there was a part of me that was expecting her to do so.

Instead of prying for a serious answer, I decided to just let the topic go and turned my head slightly, leaning even more into her touch while letting out a deep breath. Well, actually it was meant to be like a “Hmph, fine” kind of breath but I guess my brain and mouth weren’t exactly working in tandem anymore.

Again, silence ensued and I could feel myself drifting away gently. Finally, after a long night of stress, fear and paranoia I get to sl- I’m going to have nightmares, aren’t I?

“You’re the first person I’ve really met that’s the same age as me, here I mean” Mercy suddenly stated, her voice soft, almost like she was whispering. Despite just how close I was to falling asleep, I forced my eyes to open slightly, regardless of how heavy they felt, just so I could stay awake long enough to hear her.

“It scares me, that a teenager, like me, is working a job where they could die, everyone in that building, at least the late night janitors, are aware of the rumours and only a select few know that it’s real” That last titbit of information caught my attention. I wanted to ask who exactly she meant by that but all I could let out was a long groan and some form of incomprehensible mumbling. Hey, at least it got her to laugh a bit.

“I don’t have many friends, I’m practically new here, only been living in this town for under a month now and I’m not exactly the type to go out to clubs or bars” She let out a bitter chuckle, her hand tensing again “It’s pathetic I know but I-those places they just make me feel uncomfortable with the amount of strangers there and the fact that there are so many eyes on you, just watching you, and they’re loud, judgmental and forming opinions before even meeting you and-and I just…I’m not one to just go up to strangers and introduce myself like that…” She ended her rant flatly, practically deflating as the frustration that had been building within her voice suddenly gave way to something else.

I nuzzled gently against her hand, despite how cringey it made me feel, as I closed my eyes again. I couldn’t offer much comfort but I’d still do what I could.   
I mean, I knew around about where she was coming from.   
She was lonely. Just like me. Is this fate?

“Anyway, then enter you, the first teen I meet in a while” Her tone was considerably lighter now, whether that was to match the mood of the story or because of my comforting gesture was a mystery to me though “I guess part of the reason I jumped to conclusions when I saw you and boss lady is because I was kind of excited to get as close to you as possible from the get go and since I wasn’t exactly thinking straight, seeing you on the manager’s lapwasknafrstatin…”

She muttered the last part and I wasn’t alert to enough to be able to catch it.  
I’d assume it was probably something along the lines of “indecent” or something like that.

She cleared her throat before continuing “So, imagine how shocked and concerned I was when I found out you were the night guard. When you full on told me I couldn’t help but be surprised, I mean…A teenager with his whole life ahead of him risking his life for this one job, if I were in your position I’d definitely be out before even starting” Was she not aware that I wasn’t told anything about them?

“Even now I’m kind of wondering why you did the night” I guess not “But at least you survived! I’m happy about that and I wanted to spend as much time together as possible so I could get to know you but, well…Sorry, I know I’ve kind of been persistent with you and it must be annoying” I gently shook my head as soon as the words left her mouth, head tilting to face her and an eye cracking open just enough to catch a calm smile gracing her face.

She looked, deflated – for lack of a better word.   
Defeated! Actually.  
Her body was slouched over, shoulders down, her other arm laying limply in her lap and the one reaching my face didn’t seem to have much strength in it.  
Yet here she was smiling at me.  
I’m making her smile.

“I just didn’t really want to lose this chance to have a friend...” She said “I want us to stay in touch, I’m being nice because I’m being selfish since I know you’re probably going to leave and I wanted to make an impression so I could be sure you’d keep in touch…Hence why I was kind of overboard and insistent and all that…” She explained and to be fair I couldn’t blame her for how she was feeling.

But maybe that’s just me being too nice.  
She didn’t need to go so far but I don’t fully understand how she’s feeling so…

“…’mm staying…” I manage to moan out, my words coming out slurred and my eyes drooped shut just after seeing her snap up in shock, eyes widening.

“Sorry, what?” I just let out a hum, before getting comfortable with my hand pillow again. She wasn’t moving it anymore though.  
Had she forgotten it was there still?

“Did you say you’re staying” She whispered. Her fingers dug into my face a bit, not that I minded that much. It wasn’t exactly painful and it at least let me know her arm hadn’t gone dead or something. A sigh of relief left her mouth, a smile tugged at my lips at the sound and a hum of approval from the nice girl rang out in my mind – she clearly approved.

Without warning, the humming I had found myself fond of had started up in my mind and was gently lulling me into a proper slee-

Wait, what did she approve of?

Despite the concern now being at the forefront of my mind, it wasn’t enough to stop my head from lolling back as I was on the literal edge of sleep.

“Sleep well, _darling~_ ” Mercy whispered, teasingly yet thick with relief and gratitude.

Then everything faded out.


End file.
